BACKGROUND NOTE
HOUSING IN HONG KONG
1. In the 33 years since the end of the war the population of Hong Kong has increased more than 7-fold, from 600,000 to
4m. The population density is now one of the highest in the world. Providing housing for this population is one of the biggest problems which the Hong Kong Government has to face. The way they are
tackling it is one of their most outstanding achievements.
2.
The Government's target is to ensure that every family has a permanent, self-contained home at a price it can afford. Between 1954 and 1977 Government housing at heavily subsidized rents was provided for 2 million people. By 1986, by which time the Government estimate that the back of the problem will be broken, housing for a further 1.5 m. will have been provided.
3. The programme, which is well on schedule, includes not just housing but also the provision of commercial and recreational amenities, the construction of communication facilities, the development of new towns in the New Territories, the provision of temporary housing for people who have not yet been able to move to permanent estates, and the upgrading of the earliest public housing estimates to make them conform with the higher standards now being applied. The Government have also recently initiated a Home Ownership Scheme under which 30,000 flats will be made available for purchase by people within and immediately
above the income limits of eligibility for public housing. this scheme, the Government provide help with financing.
Under
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