CONFIDENTIAL
ANNEX
HOUSING
Extract from the Secretary of State's letter to the
Governor of 3 August:
"Housing
The Prime Minister was most impressed by the
remarkable achievements of the Hong Kong Government over
the last decade in providing accommodation for the people
of the Colony. He has, however, stressed to me his hope that it will be possible by a "crash" programme to increase the rate at which it is planned to house the remaining
500,000 squatters and so finish the job. I should therefore be most grateful if you could have a special study made of this problem and let me know the result."
Extract from Governor's letter to the Secretary of
State of 17 September:
"Turning now to housing, I can only say at once
that it needs no further study, over and above the continuous study we give to housing matters, to know that a further crash building programme is, regrettably, out of the
question.
2.
It must first be pointed out that our efforts in the housing field since 1954 have constituted a crash programme by any standards already, and have continuously been operated as such. Today, over 40% of the entire population are tenants of Government-aided dwellings; by 1975, under the present programme, this figure may rise to 50%; and the whole programme has been financed from current revenue with only the most minimal outside help.
3. Next, the squatter clearance programme, based on com- pulsion, upon which we have been engaged for some 16 years, has not of course had as its purpose purely the clearing and
rehousing of squatters: still less has there ever been an accepted doctrine that all squatters must be compulsorily cleared and resettled. Clearances have primarily been
/undertaken
CONFIDENTIAL
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