Resettlement_Department_Annual_Report_1970-1971 — Page 30

43. These blocks are so constructed that they can be converted to self-contained flats, and four blocks were in fact initially built in this way to accommodate higher income families. Block 25 at Wong Tai Sin Estate was converted in 1967 to provide 202 domestic units for three, six and ten persons, each equipped with a private lavatory and kitchen. Some 1,300 applications were received for these rooms from residents of Wong Tai Sin Estate, especially for the 6-person flat of 240 square feet with a rent of $60. On the strength of this demand, the Housing Board has now recommended that conversion should be applied on a larger scale at Shek Kip Mei Estate, the oldest Mark I estate, together with some demolition and re-development to provide commercial and social facilities not available at present.

MANAGEMENT

44. Under Part IV of the Resettlement Ordinance, the Urban Council has been appointed the competent authority for the manage- ment of estates in the urban area. This authority is delegated to the Resettlement Management Select Committee who have in turn delegated the day-to-day management of estates to the Commissioner for Resettle- ment and his staff. However the Select Committee is consulted on any matters involving changes of policy, and also hears appeals against the Commissioner's decisions. In the New Territories the Commissioner for Resettlement has been appointed as the competent authority under this part of the Ordinance.

45. The key figure in the management of the 23 estates is the Group Resettlement Officer. During 1970-71 there were 12 of these officers, each administering one or two estates of 10,400 to 22,300 tenancies. They are responsible for seeing that management policies are correctly applied by the estate staff, and for dealing with all difficult cases. They are also responsible for all local liaison arrangements with other Government departments, for example with Police and Urban Services for hawker operations. Nonetheless, with populations of up to 133,000 these responsibilities are obviously too large to ensure that particular families are given individual attention, and during the year it was agreed that the manning scale should be amended to provide an overall ratio of one Resettlement Officer to 14,000 tenancies, which will permit an officer of this grade to be placed in charge of each major estate.

46. Under the revised manning scale, each small estate, or sec- tion of a large estate, of 5,000 tenancies, will be under the immediate

16

Page 30Page 31