TNAG-0807-FCO40-1012-Policy-for-housing-and-resettlement-in-Hong-Kong-1978 — Page 43

C.S. 166

CONFIDENTIAL ## 機密

XCC(76)44

- 2.

one-third of all squatter huts are post-1964 and hence in theory still liable to demolition. For the future the signs are hopeful. Given a reasonable degree of control over squatting, and if there are no more large influxes of illegal immigrants, then the continuing clearance of squatter areas for development will substantially reduce the numbers of squatters, particularly after 1980 as the housing construction pro- gramme gains momentum.

4

A revised policy for the control of squatting must recognise

a number of factors:

(a)

(b)

(c)

(d)

given the overall shortage of licensed area accom- modation, it is extremely difficult for field staff to demolish illegal huts once they are occupied (and they can be erected in less than 24 hours); the job is at best a thoroughly unpleasant and demoralising one;

the supply of sites for new Licensed Areas has shrunk over the years, and it is not practicable to accept an open-ended commitment to demolish each and every new, illegal structure and offer Licensed Area space to those involved;

in any case, the austere Licensed Area standards prescribed by the 1964 White Paper can no longer be tolerated. Modern Licensed Areas are well- built, have individual electricity and water supplies, and are well provided with amenities; hence they are positively attractive, particularly as it is now commonplace for Licensed Area occupants to be offered public housing after three or four years, in order to release the accommodation for a new intake. These modern Licensed Areas are expensive (a typical Area for 3,000 persons costs about $2 million, excluding site formation costs) and re- present very uneconomical use of land;

a fresh survey of squatter structures is currently being carried out, which will register all structures on the ground as at the survey date, and so provide a new baseline for squatter control efforts. This means that all existing structures, i. e. the pre-1976 ones, will now become tolerated structures but be- cause of the continuing shortage of public housing, displaced occupants of post-1934 surveyed structures

CONFIDENTIAL * 機密