feet of designed living space per adult) over the six years ending 31st March, 1970, with a technical planning target of 1,900,000 units up to April 1974. The estimated capital cost of those two programmes is respectively $766,000,000 and $1,691,000,000.
REVIEW OF THE YEAR
11. The following paragraphs contain a brief review of the main events during the year. A fuller account will be found in subsequent chapters.
12. Amendments to the Resettlement Ordinance 1958 became law in October 1965. A new Part VA of the Ordinance provides for the establishment and administration of 'Class II' and 'Class I' Areas-the 'Licensed Areas' and 'Transit Centres' of the White Paper mentioned in paragraphs 7 and 9 above. No such areas had formally been set aside before the end of the year under review and the collection of licence fees had therefore not begun, but existing resite areas continued to be used for accommodating the homeless in accordance with their eventual designation under the Ordinance. Another important new section gave legislative authority for the collection of advance payments. of rent. By administrative decision, this section applies to tenants of dangerous buildings which have to be demolished. In practice, the Rent Advance Scheme, as it is called, came into effect in May 1965 and its benefits were extended to persons who had been evicted from dangerous buildings before that date and were already living in resite areas.
13. The provision of additional resite areas (the Class I and II areas of the future) has not been easy but, with the assistance of the Crown Lands and Survey Office of the Public Works Department and of the New Territories Administration, it has been possible to find sufficient sites to meet current needs.
14. The implementation of the Rent Advance Scheme for former tenants of dangerous buildings closed by court order has to some extent relieved the pressure on resite areas and has resulted in 3,900 families paying over $7 million to occupy permanent resettlement accommoda- tion. On payment of a sum of $400 per adult ($200 per child below the age of 10), families who were former tenants of dangerous buildings receive priority in resettlement. The sum paid is then credited against their monthly resettlement rent over a period of 10 years and 5 months.
15. To meet these increased commitments, and the continuing increase in the number of blocks under management, the department
5
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.