1. GENERAL.
APPENDIX C.
BRIEF NOTES ON HOUSING SCHEMES.
By Mr. I.N. Chau.
These short notes do not attempt to cover houses for various sections of the community, reference is more or less confined to workers' houses and the poorer community.
The provision of adequate housing for the worker and low wage earner is a big problem not easy to solve; it concerns the welfare of the poorer community which embodies a very high percentage of Hong Kong's population.
The bare income that a worker gets to support his family leaves little for rent or transport (a worker has to live near where he works). This is the principal cause for the con- gestion and over-crowding in housing.
Property owners and investors in real estate have to consider the return of the capital expended; the greatest dif- ficulty in raising housing standards to a satisfactory level is the inability of the poorer class of tenants to pay rents adequate to cover cost and interest.
2. LABOUR COST AND MATERIALS.
With high building costs now prevailing (about 5 to 6 times pre-war) there will be even less chance of getting working class houses built for some time, perhaps in 2 to 3 years. The question is, when will cost of labour and building materials come down to say, twice pre-war level? Labour cost for a mason or a carpenter was $1.50 per day pre-war, now it is about $10.00 to $11.00 (about 7 times); cost of building materials vary for dif- ferent commodities; Cement 2.5, Brick 2.5, Hardwood 5, Steel 2, Galvanised Iron Piping 5 and Sanitary fittings 6 times pre-war values.
The cost of living controls labour cost, it is sur- prising that Canton labour oost for building work is about 40% below Hong Kong.
If building materials arrive in bulk prices will come down accordingly, the question of export production and transport available to Hong Kong are factors retarding the arrival of materials.
3. DEMOLISHED OR DAMAGED HOUSES.
It is not far out to say that there are over 2,000 demolished or damaged Chinese tenement houses in Hong Kong and Kowloon, taking three floors per house and 15 persons per floor, a total of about 90,000 persons are displaced for this class of building alone. The influx of people into Hong Kong is still on the increase and it seems as if the population now is well above pre-war figures of 1 million.
4. HOUSING ACCOMMODATION STILL ACUTE.
Well
The housing accommodation is no doubt still acute. to do people seeking accommodation are ready to pay $10,000 to $15,000 for a 4 room European type flat, $3,000 for a Chinese tene- ment flat in Wanchai. Shops are still in great demand for handsome change over sums. Inspite of Government restrictions and legisla- tion on "Key Money" and raising of rents above pre-war values, the
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