$42
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blocks and it has been roughly estimated that it will cost some $700 million to modernize them.
20. While planning proceeds on these gigantic schemes, we are not ignoring the more mundane problems in the older estates. There is great scope in them for a wide variety of improvements at reasonable cost, which can do much to make life in them a little more pleasant for the tenants, and my staff are working on a number of experiments as a prelude to programmes for improvements of this sort.
And as we resite hawkers into properly organized and recognized areas, so we will let the estates breathe again for the first time in years, and recover open spaces which can be landscaped or otherwise put to some use which will improve the amenities of the estates and make the tenants feel, perhaps, that life in these estates can be pleasant after all.
21. Another field in which we can and will do much more is normal maintenance in the estates; given the density of occupation and the very intensive use made of all estate facilities, it is little wonder that the fabric deteriorates so quickly, and we have concluded that a properly planned maintenance programme-hitherto lacking is a prime requirement. We need to invest more money in preserving these estates from too rapid deterioration.
22. To a large extent many of the management problems in our estates can be traced to the fact that they lack adequate and properly planned commercial, shopping and marketing facilities. For example, the ground floor shops in our estate blocks have until recently been much too small, with the result that the occupants are constantly seeking to extend their areas into the public open spaces. This problem is being tackled on several fronts in the context of existing and currently building estates, primarily by allocating through-bay shops and by building modular markets. We recognize too the need for more restaurant space, and we are tackling this in two ways, firstly by extend- ing the existing annexe restaurants wherever possible; and secondly by planning for larger, free-standing restaurants. In the latter case, sites will present a problem and the solution may have to be the demolition of an existing block to provide a site.
23. Better public housing, incorporating the sort of improvements I have mentioned, will make the management task that much easier, and already we can see that the more generous space standards and improved intake arrangements at new estates have resulted in reasonably satisfactory conditions-certainly they are much better than those into which our old estates have sunk over the years. I know that Members
share my concern over these older estates, and realize that here is a challenge that must be met. Let us meet it boldly; let us serve notice to all who contribute to the lowering of standards in our estates that we have had enough of their selfishness and indifference and that they
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must now co-operate or face sanctions. So far as this Council is con- cerned, the major task will be to ensure that policies are enforced without fear or favour, that no exceptions are allowed, that no one is allowed to bend or break policies to accommodate individual cases.
Let us however be under no illusions about the problems facing us; we are confronted by vested interests of many years' standing, by anti-social habits that have been tolerated for years, by attitudes that must be slowly and painfully corrected. We will no doubt have to use the weapon of eviction against persons who persistently refuse to co-operate in this clean-up effort but I for one would not hesitate to do so; the problem in the past has been not so much inadequacies in our Conditions of Tenancy but rather reluctance to enforce the authority already vested in us.
24. The proper exercise of our authority in the estates in the interests of the residents as a whole will of course make new and heavy demands on our estate staff. There has been, as you know, widespread dissatisfaction with present conditions of service, and this has no doubt affected the performance of their duties in the estates; add to this the impossible conditions created by the influx of hawkers, conditions which were beyond the resources of estates staff to rectify, and it is easily possible to understand why things have gone from bad to worse. But I am glad to say that a new air of optimizm and confidence is appearing, as the staff see what can be done at estates like Ngau Tau Kok, Lam Tin and Shek Lei to get rid of the confusion and disorder of the past, and to bring things once more under control. Hopelessness is being replaced by hopefulness, and I am confident that this process will con- tinue as we demonstrate that we mean business in our determination to clean up the estates. In this context, there is one very important matter that I must mention; that is, that we are now looking realistically at the claims for higher pay made by Resettlement Assistants, whose morale is such an essential part of the whole operation.
25. Obviously, the sort of improvements we plan for the estates will cost money; but even as things are now our resettlement tenants are not paying their way. On the basis of the heavily subsidized formula which we use to calculate the capital-costs element of rents, there was in 1969 a shortfall of about $20 million between outgoings (including capital costs and recurrent costs) and rental receipts. These rentals are between one-quarter and one-fifth of comparable private- sector rents, so clearly there is plenty of room for adjustment to ensure that those lucky enough to live in subsidized public housing make a fair contribution towards Government expenditure on these estates.
26. Mr. Chairman, I have already spoken for too long, but I have felt it necessary to do so because the proper management of public housing is a matter of the greatest public interest, and because I know