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Wednesday, March 29, 1972
Estates now being designed would be built to a common higher standard which all those in need of housing would enjoy, he added.
"There will soon be no 'second class' housing provided by the
Goverment," he stressed.
On the clearance of squatters, he said it was true that present policies allowed for rehousing of squatters only where Government required
the land, except that 5,000 adult spaces a year were earmarked for the
clearance of particularly unpleasant areas.
184,000 Resettled
However, he pointed out, since 1964 a total of 184,000 people had
been resettled from squatter or similar accommodation even though the land
had not been required for development.
Of this, 160,000 were occupants of licensed areas and the remaining
24,000 squatters were victims of fire or typhoon damage.
The figure of 184,000 compared with 277,000 persons cleared from
squatter areas for development showed a very significant measure of help
for the under-privileged, he said.
"Nonetheless, I fear that the sight of the squatter in his shack
will be troubling our social consciences for many years to come, and I hope
that it will be possible to expand our building programme to allow a more
positive approach to the needs of our still too large squatter community,'
11
he said.
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