Resettlement_Department_Annual_Report_1968-1969 — Page 31

750 households in three estates in 1968 gave the following occupations for heads of resettlement households: semi-skilled manual workers 62%, unskilled 17%, white collar 9%, skilled 5% and unemployed 7%. 5% of households had incomes of less than $200, 51% $200-$400, 21% $400-$700 and 23% over $700. One of the features that dis- tinguish the resettlement population from the residents of other public housing in Hong Kong is that there is no upper limit (or indeed any limit) to the qualifying income. Most of those with higher incomes prefer to live in better accommodation but there have always been some comparatively well-off people who have chosen to remain in squatter areas or have otherwise become eligible for resettlement, and who elect to accept resettlement when it is offered.

68. It is also evident to the casual observer that, in common with other sections of the community, a substantial number of resettlement tenants are achieving a rising standard of living. Domestic rooms when handed over to tenants are no more than roughly finished concrete shells, but practically no tenant ever moves straight in. He engages one of the many small contractors who earn their living by decorating and equipping rooms during the period of initial occupation of estate blocks. These decorators install various kinds of wrought-iron or burglar-proof doors, they plaster and distemper the walls, lay various kinds of floor surfacing, install glazed windows and put up protective grilles to cover the verandah opening. It is not unusual for a tenant to spend over $1,000 on initial improvements and furniture for his new home, and some may lay out $3,000 or more in this way. This process usually takes about three weeks after the initial rent payment and handing over of the tenancy card and, in the newer types of blocks, it is during this period that the necessary arrangements are made with the Water Authority and with the public utility companies for a water supply and electrical connection. An increasing number of tenants possess sophisticated electrical appliances: electric rice cookers are very common, and even refrigerators and television sets no longer attract surprised comment. (The Hong Kong University survey men- tioned above suggests that such expensive possessions as television sets, refrigerators and telephones are commoner in the longer- established estates than in the newer ones.) It seems that the majority of tenants intend to create a flat which, however small, will serve as the family's permanent home in the foreseeable future: a survey of Tai Hang Tung estate carried out in 1965 showed that 95% of the families surveyed had lived at this estate since its completion ten

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