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social welfare or a social service.
With
These two terms are very confusing and one should rather avoid defining them. Whatever it should be, I am strongly of the view that public housing should be directed towards those most in need, and that the aim should be to help them to become able to help themselves. this in mind, it should be easier to support the basic principles endorsed by the Committee on Housing Subsidy. Heavily subsidized public housing should not be looked upon as a life-long entitlement. It should be made available to those who are most in need. Once a family has passed over the difficult period when they most needed assistance in housing subsidy. Short of forced eviction which has wider social and economical implications, higher rent for those who have improved their financial position considerably after moving
The amended into public housing is the only alternative. double rent system now proposed by the Committee and which is only to apply to those tenants who have been in public housing for ten years, is arrived at after taking into consideration many views including those expressed by prospective tenants who are on the waiting list. A balance must be made and further relaxation which some public housing residents asked for will tilt to their advantage and will defeat the objective to achieve a higher degree of fairness. Taking all these into consideration, I must say I support the proposals which are
before us.
Some critics speculate on the Authority's motives behind the proposals. They suspect that they are means for the Authority to achieve self-sufficiency. We in the Housing Authority are conscious of our responsibility, not only to public housing tenants, but also to the population of Hong Kong as a whole; we should ensure that the limited resources of Hong Kong are used efficiently and directed towards areas of need,
In not only in housing, but also in other social programmes. the long run, it should be the policy of the Authority to be self-financed and to be able to provide sufficient housing at a
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