Resettlement_Department_Annual_Report_1966-1967 — Page 30

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CHAPTER 5

THE COTTAGE AREAS

GENERAL

62. Cottage resettlement areas are areas of low density resettlement development whose boundaries have been gazetted under the Resettle- ment Ordinance. Each area consists of a number of cottages, varying from a few hundred to several thousand, mostly constructed of wood or stone and built privately or by voluntary organizations. The cottage areas are managed by the Resettlement Department which, in addition to providing management staff, has laid out roads, paths and drains and installed latrines, water standpipes and public lighting for the settlers, and is responsible for maintaining these facilities. All cottage areas are liable to eventual clearance, with the resettlement of their occupants into multi-storey estate blocks.

63. The first cottage areas were established in 1948 for squatters in central areas who were offered sites in more outlying districts which, it was then thought, would not be required for other development in the foreseeable future. There are now fourteen cottage areas in Kowloon, Hong Kong Island and the New Territories, containing 8,598 stone or brick cottages and 2,695 wooden huts, in addition to 313 shops and 99 workshops and factories, some of which are quite substantial under- takings with an export business; 72,484 authorized settlers and 13,875 'accepted unauthorized' persons live in them. (Accepted unauthorized persons are those who came into the areas without authority and who are recorded in a departmental census of cottage areas made in 1963. By a decision of the Urban Council, they have been allowed to stay and will be eligible for resettlement when the area in which they live is redeveloped). A list of the cottage areas with the population of each is at Appendix 1.

64. The first buildings in the cottage areas were put up by the settlers themselves, but it soon became clear to a number of welfare or non-profit-making organizations that here was an opportunity for practical charitable assistance to people in need, and many of the cottages still standing were constructed by them. For example, the National Catholic Welfare Conference built 2,744 stone cottages, the Methodist Board of Missions 522, and the Church World Service 401; the Hong Kong Settlers Housing Corporation, a 1952 venture relying on both private donations and a measure of support from public funds,

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