TNAG-0270-FCO40-306-Policy-on-housing-and-resettlement-in-Hong-Kong-1971 — Page 101

Many tenants of resettlement estates take a pride in their apartments, which they look upon as the first real homes they have ever known,

They spend large sums decorating and furnishing them to their taste and making the mast of the space provided.

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All the estates have privately run schools which pay nominal rents, many of which are subsidised by the Government. A few have Government schools. At the beginning of 1966 there were 154,656 schoolchildren at estate schools. The schools are on the rooftops or ground floors in the ofder estates and in separate annexes in the new estates. Playgrounds are also provided and most estates have clinics, nurseries, children's clubs, community centres, vocational training centres, and other welfare institutions.

the solution

The Shek Kip Mei fire cleared 45 acres and it was here that the first two-storey resettle- menc dwellings were built. However it was self-evident that this would not provide the solution-in a land strictly limited in building space a greater density per acre was needed, Government architects designed progressively six, seven and eight-storey H-shaped blocks, the arms having apartments opening off a common balcony to the outside of the building and the central cross-bar containing communal washing and toilet facilities. These concrete fire- proof blocks could be completed from piling in 16 weeks and they accommodate on average 2,300 people. Four basic room sizes range from 60 to 360 square feet and rents vary between HK$9 and HK$75 (11s. 3d. to £4 13s. 9d. sterling; US$1.57 to $13.30) a month. This is known as the Mark I type and in 1961 the Mark II was built-the same shape in seven or eight storeys but with the arms joined at each end by staircases contained by screens of perforated bricks and providing some large rooms with balconies. Room sizes are from 60 to 310 square feet and rents vary between HK$9 and HK$57 (£3 11s. 3d., US$10).

In 1964 the Government Public Works Department began a new six-year building programme aimed at providing housing for 900,000 people in that period. The Mark III, an entirely new design, was built. An internal corridor gives access to the apartments so that each room has its own private balcony and although washing facilities were still shared by large numbers, toilets were shared between two large or three small rooms. Electrical fittings were built in. The room sizes are from 107 to 280 square feet and rents from HK$26 to HK$69 (£I 12s. 6d. to £4 6s. 6d., US$4.55 to $12.20) a month.

But even the density achieved by these designs has not proved adequate for the growing millions. From 1965 the Mark IV was built. This is a 16-storey block with lifts, basically the same in floor plan as the Mark III but each apartment has its own toilet and in later ones its own water cap. Room sizes range from 107 to 344 square feet and the all-in rents are from HK$29 to HK$91 (£1 16s. 3d. to £5 13s. 9d., US$5 to $16) a month. The increased height means greater density per acre than before but more open space for recreation and other purposes.

The Mark V blocks-similar in design and amenities-have room sizes more closely related to the expected demand.

Each estate is well supplied with shops and restaurants which are allocated to those who ran similar businesses in the cleared squatter areas. They also have ground floor workshops for people who were running industries in the squatter areas but which are too small for the resettlement factory scheme.

Progress

Hong Kong also has an extensive housing programme for those who are not squatters but who are in need of low-cost houg. Since 1954 the Housing Authority, a statutory body, has built homes for 134,143 people at a cost of HK$212 million (£134 million, US$37 million). Homes for another 53,960 at a cost of HK$90 million were under construction at the end of 1966. Rents ranging from HK$48 (£3, US$8.40) for a 4-person flat to HK$129 (£8, US$22.40) a month for a 14-person flat are based on recovery of capital in 40 years at 5% interest. In addition the Housing Authority manages for the Government six low-cost estates housing 61.275 people, which were built by the Public Works Department for those with incomes of less than HK$500 a month living in insanitary or overcrowded conditions.

The Hong Kong Housing Society, a voluntary organization supported mainly by low- interest Government loans, has built 14,536 apartments ranging in rent from $39 to $170 a month. A number of other religious or community organizations have made smaller contributions in low-cost housing,

the future

In mid-1966 there were still more than half a million squatters in the urban areas of the Colony-the great majority on wasteland sites, 53,184 on the rooftops and 53,522 in the controlled re-site areas. But even at the present rate of building it is impossible to forecast when the problem of the squatters will end. Each year the number of births, immigration from China, clearance of dangerous buildings, slums and overcrowded tenements and the demolition of the original resettlement cottages add to the numbers who are homeless. None of the figures are predictable and even if a date could be set for the last urban squatter to move into a resettlement block there are some 200,000 more squatters in the rural New Territories who will have to be housed eventually. The trend is to increase the room space in the new resettlement blocks and to provide better homes and better amenities. Officers of the Resettlement Department are confident that even with a birthrate of 100,000 a year over the whole Colony the problem must eventually be beaten.