Resettlement_Department_Annual_Report_1957-1958 — Page 8

In January, 1950, after a disastrous squatter fire in the Kowloon City district in which 20,000 people were made homeless, this scheme was extended, and a number of resettlement areas were established to which squatters could gradually be moved. There they were offered sites on which to build huts or one-storey cottages at their own expense. The more centrally situated areas such as Ho Man Tin and King's Park were known as 'approved' areas, and in these the cottages had to conform to certain minimum standards and no new wooden huts were allowed. Others, such as Chai Wan and Ngau Tau Kok, were known as 'tolerated' areas, and were for the poorer squatters who could not afford to do more than build small wooden huts.

4. In 1951 it was decided that the administration of these cottage resettlement areas should become the responsibility of a new Division of the Urban Services Department which would work under the general direction of the Urban Council. Screening of squatters, to determine their eligibility for resettlement, clearance operations, and patrols to prevent new squatting still remained however the province of other departments.

5. Progress was slow for two reasons: the majority of squatters either could not afford to build to the standard required in the 'approved' areas, or were unwilling to move to the outlying 'tolerated' areas because they considered that these were too far from those urban districts where they could obtain employment. In order to accelerate the development of the 'approved' areas the Urban Council therefore decided to allow building contractors to build cottages for sale to persons eligible for resettlement. This system was not a success for various reasons, one of which was that the majority of squatters could not afford to pay the prices asked by these contractors for the cottages they built.

6. In September, 1952 a group of public-spirited business and pro- fessional men agreed to establish a non-profit making organization to build cottages in the resettlement areas, which was partly financed by Government and partly from subscriptions from the public. The Hong Kong Settlers Housing Corporation, as it was called, built over 1,500 cottages in all which are sold to their occupants on hire purchase terms spread over a period of seven years.

7. Another method tried was the conversion of existing squatter areas into controlled resettlement areas by building paths, drains and latrines and cutting fire lanes through them.

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