TNAG-0317-FCO40-353-Policy-of-housing-and-resettlement-in-Hong-Kong-problem-of-s-1971 — Page 161

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Mw.

Mr

ford

Sir L Monson

HONG KONG REHOUSING OF SQUATTERS

1.

Sir L Monson's minute of 13 January.

2.

I agree that this latest letter from the Governor is much more hpful than the previous communications we have had from Hong Kong on this subject. But it seems to me that the more we go into this problem the more we are faced with questions to which we do not know the answers.

3. Approaching the matter as an outsider one would expect to find (i) a broad policy laying down the division of responsibility between the private sector and the public sector, including the type and cost of accommodation to be built by each and the returns expected there from and (ii) as part of a general development plan, a proportion of governmental resources, financial and otherwise, set aside for this purpose over a period ahead of at least five years.

4. I have no doubt that if the Housing Board were asked to define the division of responsibilities between the two sectors they could do so fairly easily (we could have a reasonable stab at it in the Department) but apart from general statements such as "domestic housing is provided by the private sector covering all income levels" (para.3 of the Governor's letter of 7 January) we have nothing on record here showing exactly what the private sector is expected to produce over any given period. My impression is that the massive Government programmes for low-cost housing have virtually pushed the private sector out of this field of activity altogether and that the private sector now concentrates almost entirely on more expensive housing ( understandably so if capital is to be turned over quickly).

/that

5. More important is the fact that we have nothing to indicate/ a deliberate decision has been taken to devote any fixed propor- tion of the Government's resources to housing. It is this, above all, that makes comment on the Governor's letter of 7 January so difficult. If more resources were devoted to housing what would be the effect on other desirable projects ? In short

what are the Government's priorities ?

6.

I do not wish to be unfair or unnecessarily critical, but it seems to me that the paper for Executive Council at flag G goes into far too much detail. It is very difficult to get a clear picture of the situation from that paper, and I suggest that this is a good example of the need for a greater delegation of authority, the broad policy issues only being reserved for decision by the Executive Council.

7. In my view, the whole question of the management of the Hong Kong economy and the allocation of available resources