single exception, can take place easily and there is no need to change anything
the Secretary of Housing and all other
in the administration structure
posts would be the same. It may be argued that some members of the council
may have no knowledge of housing. This in fact may provide them, if any, to
understudy from their experienced colleagues. Many GLC members, specially
those newly elected, do not necessarily know housing or transports. The
financial implications are minimal and an adjustment of rate percentage would
take good care of the change-back.
In a Sector Policy Paper on housing issued by the World Bank on the
19th of May, 1975, there were a number of interesting findings. The paper says
that by 1980, nearly one-fifth of the people in developing countries, some 550
million, will be living in cities. For all except the wealthy, housing is the major
goal of family savings efforts and accounts for 15% to 20% of household expenditures.
It also, rightly, describes that housing is the largest item after food in the budget
of poor families who are willing to run the risk of illegal "squatting" to enable
them to live near their places of work. This is confirmed by the situation in Hong
Kong in resettlement areas just like the Wong Tai Sin where people do not like to
move to less-density areas. In London, we were told that the middle class and
well-to-do families are now leaving London for the suburbs as a very gradual but
sure process.
The paper further suggests that housing contributes to development
by providing in addition to shelter access to employment which can lead to higher
productivity and increased earnings for lower-income families. Further, it
points out that the practice of constructed high-standard housing has led to
regulations discouraging the production of housing which the poor can afford and
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