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Wednesday, March 28, 1973
SELLING PUBLIC HOUSING UNITS TO PEOPLE
Government Studying The Matter
The Government has, over the past few months, been studying the
matter of selling public housing units, such as those being built by the
present Housing Authority, to the tenants.
This was disclosed by the Secretary for Housing, the Hon. Ian Lightbody,
at the resumed budget debate in the Legislative Council today in reply to
points raised by the Hon. Mrs. Ellen Li.
Mr. Lightbody said that the new Housing Authority would have to take
a decision on how much housing to build for the lower middle-income group,
and how much for families in the bottom-income range.
He said the decision on the former would no doubt be influenced by
financial considerations.
He added that "if we can help to meet the needs of this group, and
at the same time avoid locking up large capital sums, so much the better."
While agreeing that problems are unavoidable, Mr. Lightbody saw no
reason why the Government should not be able to devise some suitable scheme
which would "meet both these objectives, at prices within the means of the
families who need this sort of help."
He assured the Council that studies in this field would be pushed
ahead as rapidly as possible and he expressed the hope that it would prove
possible to introduce some such scheme "fairly soon".
/On the