9
A similar plan to go back and establish a new committee. 13 situation exists at Block #9, which has already been converted. However, it is not yet fully occupied and a committee cannot be established until all units have been taken. When this is done, the District Office will begin its visits. A different situation exists in Block #13, for its MAC has been in suspension since 1978. The reasons why were not entirely clear, for the suspension was enacted before the tenure of the present liaison officer. Block #13 contains both the Housing Department office and the office of the Neighbourhood Police Unit, so it is possible that the residents did not see the need for an MAC. In January of 1983, the staff of the District Office planned to make new visits to assess the situation at this block. It seems that their efforts were successful, for on April 15, 1983, the residents held a special meeting and voted to set up a new Mutual Aid Committee. While dissolution is a serious matter, if a committee is dissolved, it can be re-established at a later date if the residents change their opinions.
Private housing blocks, it might be added, have another alternative—the owners' corporations—and some MACs disband when one of these is established. The owners' corporations were established under the Multi-Storey Building (Owners' Incorporation) Ordinance, passed in 1970. Normally, the two kinds of organizations do not co-exist in one building, although there are some examples of change over long periods when both continue to function. Some officials (for example, many of the liaison officers I interviewed while conducting research in the Mong Kok District) considered this change desirable and viewed the process as one of no committee, then a Mutual Aid Committee, then an owners' corporation. Of course, no such alternative is available at Lok Fu, as owners' corporations cannot be established in public housing estates, or in some private housing estates with management systems governed by Deeds of Mutual Covenant.
A Question of Data
How large are Mutual Aid Committees and what is their internal arrangement? While this question seems quite straightforward, gathering the information necessary to answer it is not always easy. Because of conflicting sources, it is difficult to assess