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t
Monday, February 18, 1974
RENT REVISION OF ESTATE WELFARE PREMISES EXPLAINED
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The increased rent on welfare premises would barely cover
servicing, management and maintenance expenses but would not result in
the Housing Authority realising any profit out of these lettings.
This was stated by Mr. Frank Carroll, Deputy Director of Housing
(Estate Management) this afternoon at the forum on "Public Housing Rental
Policy and Its Effects on Social Services" organised by the Hong Kong
Council of Social Service.
Previously, estates owned by the government - whether managed
by the Authority (Government low cost housing estates) or by the Resettlement
Department (rosettlement estates)
were charged a purely nominal rent
of $1 per month, regardless of size. Rates were additional to the rent
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in all cases where assessments were raised.
Mr. Carroll said when the new Authority came into being on
April 1 last year, much thought was given to whether it should subsidise
welfare services in the estates which was in fact a government function.
The Authority then decided that the rents of all such premises
had to be reconsidered to ensure that the true cost to government of
assisting these services in the estates would not be obscured by a hidden
Housing Authority subvention.
"These decisions were made in principle in July last year with the
intention that the various organisations should be notified that the now
rents would come into force on the termination of their existing fixed term
tenancies, where these existed, or on April 1 this year, whichever was later.
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