During the first twenty years of the housing programme, 68
estates' were constructed providing better housing for about 1.7 million
people who had previously lived in squatter huts and crowded tenements.
In 1973, a new phase of the programme was started, aimed at
providing better quality flats in well planned self-contained communities,
many of them in the new towns of the New Territories. Since then, 41
additional estates have been built, and today more than two and a quarter million people, or roughly 42% of our population, live in public housing of one sort or another provided or subsidised by the government. This percentage will grow as the public housing programme continues to develop.
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A consequence of an improving standard of living has been the trend towards families wishing to buy homes of their own rather than
relying on rented accommodation. People can of course do this by buying
through the private sector. But to meet the aspirations of those who
can not manage this, a Home Ownership Scheme was introduced in 1977 to
enable lower-income families to buy their own flats at reasonable prices.
Nor are we concerned only with providing people with a place
to live. In this modem age people must be made to feel that they
belong. It is not enough simply to give people better accommodation
than they had before. In consequence a prime task of all our distriot
officers is to encourage the growth of the community spirit within our
housing estates through the formation of Residents Associations, Mitual
Aid Committees and other social groups. For our designers the challenge
is not only to fit in large numbers of flats on the tiny areas of land
available, but also to build in the environment and facilities on which
a successful community oan grow.
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Hong Kong will continue with this publio housing programme for so long as it is needed. There will be no pause in our efforts
to make Hong Kong a better place in which to live.
Social Security & Social Welfare
Our social welfare services are based on the joint efforts and common concem of the Government and the community in helping those least able to help themselves and in improving the quality of community life.
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/The Govemment .......