E. G. PRYOR
that 79% of households shared accommodation. Household incomes were generally low, with 79% of families earning less than HK$600 per month and 56% less than HK$300. The amount of money which could be spared for rent was also low, with 79% of households spending less than HK$100 per month and 66% less than HK$60, although it must not be overlooked that in relative terms rentals took up a significant proportion of household incomes.
A number of far-sighted recommendations were made by the committee to increase the supply of low-cost housing and also to initiate a programme for the clearance and redevelopment of both underdeveloped and congested areas where conditions constituted a hazard to public health and safety. Many of these recommendations have since materialised in the form of expanded programmes for the provision of government housing and the commencement of urban renewal projects.
Whilst the results of the Housing survey carried out by the University of Hong Kong showed that the housing situation in 1957 was of critical proportions, the 1961 census gave an even more alarming picture of the problem.
To begin with, the census showed that the population of the colony had increased by over 30% from 2.4 million in 1956 to 3.13 million in 1961. Over 83% of the population in 1961 lived in the main urban areas of Hong Kong Island, Kowloon, and New Kowloon, where the average density of population in the most congested area, namely the West census district, came to 963 persons per acre (616,320 persons per square mile), which finds few parallels in other Asian or "Western" cities. The census also showed that in the main urban areas, some 391,000 households (1.55 million persons) lived in buildings constructed of "permanent" materials but in which the accommodation comprised rooms, cocklofts, cubicles, bedspaces, basements, verandahs, and other such substandard living space in which common use had to be made of basic household facilities. It should be noted that this type of accommodation included the early types of resettlement blocks built by the Government as well as new tenement floors built by private developers. A further 93,000 households (421,000 persons) in the main urban areas lived in squatter huts and other types of makeshift accommodation. Altogether, there were 484,000 households comprising 1.97 million persons in the main urban areas that were inadequately housed. In
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110
E. G. PRYOR
that 79% of households shared accommodation. Household incomes were generally low, with 79% of familes earning less than HK$600 per month and 56% less than HK$300. The amount of money which could be spared for rent was also low, with 79% of households spending less than HK$100 per month and 66% less than HK$60, although it must not be overlooked that in relative terms rentals took up a significant proportion of household incomes.
A number of far-sighted recommendations were made by the committee to increase the supply of low cost housing and also to initiate a programme for the clearance and redevelopment of both underdeveloped and congested areas where conditions constituted a hazard to public health and safety. Many of these recommenda- tions have since materialised in the form of expanded programmes for the provision of government housing and the commencement of urban renewal projects.
Whilst the results of the Housing survey carried out by the University of Hong Kong showed that the housing situation in 1957 was of critical proportions, the 1961 census gave an even more alarming picture of the problem.
To begin with the census showed that the population of the colony had increased by over 30% from 2.4 millions in 1956 to 3.13 millions in 1961. Over 83% of the population in 1961 lived in the main urban areas of Hong Kong Island, Kowloon and New Kowloon where the average density of population in the most congested area, namely the West census district, came to 963 persons per acre (616,320 persons per square mile) which finds few parallels in other Asian or "Western" cities. The census also showed that in the main urban areas some 391,000 households (1.55 million persons) lived in buildings constructed of "permanent" materials but in which the accommodation comprised rooms, cocklofts, cubicles, bedspaces, basements, verandahs and other such substandard living space in which common use had to be made of basic household facilities. It should be noted that this type of accommodation included the early types of resettlement blocks built by the Government as well as new tenement floors built by private developers. A further 93,000 households (421,000 persons) in the main urban areas lived in squatter huts and other types of makeshift accommodation. Alto- gether, there were 484,000 households comprising 1.97 million per- sons in the main urban areas that were inadequately housed. In
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