XN000022-1995-06-07 — Page 5

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Housing tops issues of concern: HAB poll

Housing-related problems continued to remain in the minds of local residents, according to the latest public opinion poll conducted by the Home Affairs Branch.

Releasing the findings of a bi-monthly survey carried out between May 8 to 12, a spokesman for the Branch said the housing issue topped the list of problems most mentioned by the respondents. The percentage, which stood at 37 per cent, was the same as that recorded in the last survey.

Among them, 39 per cent worried about the high cost of private flats while the corresponding figure in March was 47 per cent.

Meanwhile, 72 per cent felt that the Government had made efforts to solve the housing problem and 12 per cent thought the issue had been well-handled.

Of the other most-mentioned issues facing the territory, "labour-related problems" came second with 34 per cent, of which 55 per cent mentioned the labour importation scheme, about the same as the previous findings (53 per cent).

This was followed by "Hong Kong Future" which stood at 26 per cent, up slightly from 24 per cent in the March poll.

The survey was the 58th in the series to gauge the trend of public opinion on perceived problems in Hong Kong and the community's views of the general situation.

A total of 1,501 persons were successfully interviewed using a random sample of residential telephone numbers.

Within the household of a selected telephone number, a respondent aged between 15 and 64 was randomly chosen for interview.

End/Wednesday, June 7, 1995