Resettlement_Department_Annual_Report_1967-1968 — Page 20

RESITE AND LICENSED AREAS

37. By the end of the year the programme for clearing the old resite areas, which are converted into licensed areas or handed back to the Public Works Department, was nearing its end and resiting during this period was, with one exception, to licensed areas only. 8 new licensed areas were 'set aside' during the year, making a total of 16. Class I licensed areas are intended for people with a high priority for resettle- ment for whom estate rooms are not immediately available. These may be former tenants of dangerous buildings who have paid their rent advance and are awaiting rooms in the estate of their choice; or in certain cir- cumstances, they may be victims of natural disasters. A licence fee of $4 a month is charged for a domestic site. Class II areas, where the monthly fee is $3, are intended for people with no priority for resettle- ment-for example 'impostors' found at clearances, those who are genuinely homeless, families who have opted out of the rent advance scheme, etc. Both resite and licensed areas are provided by Government with such basic facilities as a public water supply, surface drains and latrines. As they are of a temporary nature the huts are very simple but they must be built of fire-resistant materials. A standard scale is laid down for the sizes of huts, depending on the number of occupants, and they are usually built by contractors at prices ranging from $2.50 to $3.50 a sq. ft., according to the locality.

38. Apart from the basic amenities provided by Government the larger areas may contain schools, welfare centres and mobile or static clinics, supplied and run by charitable or religious organizations. Most areas have a number of shops operated by former squatters. Hawker control is a problem, as is the control of shops whose business is thriving and the owners of which seek to expand beyond the sites allocated to them.

39. During the year, the sub-division resited 29,085 people. This represents an increase of 3% on the previous year, mainly accounted for by the mass squatting at Tai Wo Hau. Those resited comprised:

$9%

of titul

1,620 victims of natural disasters and fires;

222 rooftop squatters from demolished tenements;

1,244 tenants and rooftop squatters from condemned buildings;

780 compassionate cases;

2,949 homeless people remaining on site after clearance operations; 5,605 boat squatters;

311 squatters from land required for permanent development;

14,538 squatters from demolished illegal structures;

1,816 persons of other categorics, mainly squatters affected by tenement redevelopment and unauthorized persons evicted from estates and cottage areas.

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