Resettlement_Department_Annual_Report_1971-1972 — Page 24

of in a resettlement estate as would normally have been the case) to tenants of seven dangerous pre-war buildings at Sugar Street, Causeway Bay. The Tong Shui Road case was the first of its kind under an experimental arrangement to be operated for a six months period. The idea was to offer direct resettlement to ex-tenants of post-war buildings declared dangerous; up till then only pre-war buildings were normally provided for. In the Sugar Street case, low cost housing accommodation was offered for the first time to persons eligible under the resettlement categories, because of a shortage of suitable and sufficient resettlement accommodation. It was also the first case of its kind in which squatters living in surveyed structures on the roof-top of buildings declared dangerous were offered direct rehousing.

CHAPTER 5

RESETTLEMENT ESTATES

BUILDINGS

43. The first resettlement blocks were built in 1954 as basic emergency housing for squatters and fire victims. The intention was to build in quantity as quickly as possible, and sufficiently cheaply to be let at rents which the rehoused squatters could afford. With great reluctance, the decision was taken to house families at 24 square feet per adult person, and the rooms were planned accordingly. Over the years, new and improved types of buildings were introduced, and the estates at present contain six marks of building as follows:

(a) Mark I

(b) Mark II

Six or seven storeys, built between 1955 and 1961. The design is usually 'H'-shape with communal wash-places and lavatories in the cross piece, though some blocks are 'T'-shaped.

are 'I'-shaped. An access balcony runs around the outside of each floor and rooms open off it. The 'standard' size of room is 120 square feet housing 4-5 persons at a rent of $18 including water charges. There are 146 Mark I blocks including the block converted into self-contained flats at Wong Tai Sin Estate mentioned in paragraph 42.

Seven or eight storeys, built between 1961 and 1964. The design is similar to Mark I, except that the ends of the two arms of the 'H' are connected by a

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