XN000022-1976-04-07 — Page 2

-

Wednesday, April 7, 1976

SCHEME TO SELL FLATS TO BETTER-OFF ESTATE TENANTS

The proposed public housing for sale scheme aims at selling flats

to better-off families now living in the Housing Authority's low-rent estates,

the Secretary for Housing, the Hon. Ian Lightbody, said today.

Speaking in the resumed budget debate, he told the Legislative Council

that the time had come for these families to give up their flats for re-

allocation to the less well-off people who were still anxiously awaiting decent

housing at a rent they could afford.

"Every flat recovered in this way is a clear gain and a step towards

fulfilment of our public housing targets."

To get the better-off tenants to buy these flats, he pointed out,

would require an attractive selling price, combined with some pressure to

vacate.

To this end, the Housing Authority had recently authorised surveys

of tenants' income to start in a number of estates, and this process would

become an on-going process, he said.

Mr. Lightbody also stressed that the scheme would only make sense

if the selling price of the flats was pitched at a level which the intended

beneficiaries could afford.

Commenting on the scheme, he said by selling flats to families at a

price within their means, rather than rent and have the capital outstanding

for many years, the Authority could turn over its funde quickly and generate

a significant addition to the public housing output.

/He said

14