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Friday, February 2, 1973
In addition to its executive responsibility for estates,
the new Housing Authority will advise the Governor on all housing
policy matters.
Its members will all be appointed by the Governor and will
comprise up to 13 unofficial members (of which 8 will be Urban Councillors)
and up to 6 official members. The Secretary for Housing will be the
chairman.
The Authority will have the power to co-opt non-members
to serve on its select committees.
The Bill repeals both the Housing Ordinance and the
Resettlement Ordinance. The work of the Housing Board, which was set
up in 1965 to advise on general housing policy, will also be taken over
by the new Authority.
Existing tenancies and licences created under these two
ordinances will continue, and property vested in the present Hong long
Housing Authority and authorities under the Resettlement Ordinance will
be transferred to the new Housing Authority.
It is intended to retain the financial arrangements under
which the present Housing Authority operates, but the reconstituted
Authority will have to present its programme annually to the Governor
and it will be able to borrow from the Government or from other sources
approved by the Governor.
Among other things, the Bill removes the role of the Commissioner
for Resettlement as a statutory authority for clearing land and transfers
this role to the new Authority.
/The Bill