XN000022-1983-07-02 — Page 3

SATURDAY, JULY 2, 1983

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HIGH HOUSING CARE STANDARD STRESSED

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ALL HOUSING DEPARTMENT ESTATES ARE MANAGED BY MEMBERS OR ASSOCIATE MEMBERS OF THE INSTITUTE OF HOUSING, AND TO THE SAME CONSISTENT AND HIGH STANDARDS, MR BERNARD WILLIAMS, WHO WILL BE RETIRING AS DIRECTOR OF HOUSING SAID.

IN AN ADDRESS TO THE ANNUAL DINNER OF THE INSTITUTE OF HOUSING, HONG KONG BRANCH, HE RECALLED HOW THE EXPERTISE OF THE INSTITUTE IN PROFESSIONAL HOUSING MANAGEMENT HAD BEEN BROUGHT INTO ESTATES RUN BY THE FORMER RESETTLEMENT DEPARTMENT.

MR WILLIAMS SAID HE WAS POSTED IN 1969 TO THE RESETTLEMENT DEPARTMENT AND FOUND HIMSELF IN CHARGE OF 25 HOUSING ESTATES CONTAINING ABOUT 230 000 FLATS.

+ALTHOUGH THESE ESTATES VARIED IN QUALITY, THEY ALL SUFFERED, SOME MORE THAN OTHERS, FROM VARIOUS MANAGEMENT PROBLEMS.+

+THERE SEEMED TO BE NO PARTICULAR SYSTEM OF MANAGEMENT AND MANY DECISIONS WERE TAKEN AD HOC TO MEET PARTICULAR SITUATIONS.

SINCE THEN, MR WILLIAMS SAID SEVERAL RESETTLEMENT OFFICERS HAD ATTENDED TRAINING COURSE, AND AN EXPERIENCED HOUSING MANAGER WAS ALSO SECONDED FROM THE THEN HOUSING AUTHORITY TO SEE WHETHER PROFESSIONAL HOUSING PRINCIPLES COULD BE INTRODUCED.

AND

BY 1972, RESETTLEMENT OFFICERS HAD GRADUATED FROM THE HONG KONG UNIVERSITY COURSE AND BECOME FULL MEMBERS OF THE INSTITUTE · A NEW STYLE OF MANAGEMENT WAS INTRODUCED, HE SAID.

*WITH THE TREMENDOUS GROWTH OF THE PUBLIC HOUSING PROGRAMME SINCE 1973, THE OLD GROUP B ESTATES ARE NOW IN THE MINORITY, AND THEIR ORIGINALLY INTRACTABLE PROBLEMS ARE DISAPPEARING ONE BY ONE.+

AS TO HOW PUBLIC HOUSING WAS LIKELY TO EVOLVE IN THE FUTURE, MR WILLIAMS SAID HE HIMSELF PREFERRED WHAT MIGHT BE CALLED THE +CONSERVATIVE+ ALTERNATIVE.

+THAT IS AS MANY FAMILIES AS POSSIBLE SHOULD BE ENCOURAGED TO BECOME HOME-OWNERS.

+ IN MANY CITIES, THIS IS NOT FEASIBLE BECAUSE OF THE EXORBITANT COST OF LAND, BUT IN HONG KONG, WE HAVE BEEN ABLE TO EVOLVE A LOW- INCOME FLAT PURCHASING POLICY WHICH PUTS HOME OWNERSHIP WITHIN THE MEANS OF ABOUT 60 PER CENT OF THE POPULATION AND THIS PROPORTION WILL GROW IN THE FUTURE.+