HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
MR. SALES: Sir, as I recall it, as a member of the Working Party, no percentage was set for resettling; in fact, certain priorities were established after considering the factors involved in the low-cost housing, and this is not the order of priority established by the Working Party. It is merely an order of priority for resettling these people according to the circumstances arising in each instance.
MR. HU: Do I understand correctly, that if there is one vacant place for resettlement, then two persons apply for the same place, does this mean the person from the first group has priority over the first person belonging to the second group?
COMMISSIONER FOR RESETTLEMENT: Generally speaking, nobody applies for resettlement. The exceptional case is where a person might apply to be accepted into resettlement accommodation, as in compassionate cases in Category or Priority 2—and the limit for the current financial year for this Category is 3,000 places. My answer to the original question indicates that in the eleven months from the 1st October last year, some 2,496 persons have obtained resettlement through that particular facility.
MR. HU: Do I understand correctly that, as a matter of fact, there is no priority.
COMMISSIONER FOR RESETTLEMENT: I personally would prefer to refer to these, not as Priorities, but as Categories. At the commencement of the financial year, we estimated how many out of each category could be offered resettlement accommodation in relation to the building programme for the year.
MR. HU: Do I understand, Sir, that in the 3rd line on Page 2 of your answer, the word "priority" should be changed to "category". Is that correct?
COMMISSIONER FOR RESETTLEMENT: This question came from Mr. SALES, and he was quite correctly using the word "priority", since it is the word used in the White Paper.
MR. HU: Mr. Chairman, I should also like to ask one question concerning Category 5. Is there any priority to the people who want to be decanted?
COMMISSIONER FOR RESETTLEMENT: We have had this subject of decanting brought before the Council on a number of occasions, and the level, as I quoted in my supplementary answer, is that decanting applies where families are living at below 16 sq. ft. of living space per adult. Once a family falls below that level, our records show that they are offered the facility of being moved into a larger room suitable for them. As you will see from my answer, any family that applies before they reach that low level of 16 sq. ft., will have to go on to the waiting list until they fall below that level, and then their turn will come for decanting.
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
MRS. ELLIOTT: Mr. Chairman, is it true of the people living in Li Cheng Uk, Shek Kip Mei, and Tai Hang Tung?
COMMISSIONER FOR RESETTLEMENT: Mrs. ELLIOTT is quite right in querying the position on Li Cheng Uk, Shek Kip Mei, and Tai Hang Tung, and also may include Hung Hom, as well. These are closed estates, and generally speaking, residents in resettlement estates prefer to be decanted into their own estate; and so the decanting of people from these four estates can only be done if they are prepared to move into such estates as Tze Wan Shan, or farther afield to Sau Mau Ping, Yau Tong, etc. There will, however, be an opportunity for those overcrowded families in Shek Kip Mei when the extension estate is built.
MR. SALES: Sir, can the Commissioner give us the assurance that the residents of Chai Wan are given no privileged treatment under any circumstances?
MR. HU: Do I understand it correctly, Sir, that Priority is based on the time of application, if a person applies earlier, then he will be decanted earlier than if he applies later?
COMMISSIONER FOR RESETTLEMENT: No. Priority for decanting is strictly in order of merit, or overcrowding, as it were, and we are at present decanting families who have been overcrowded for the last ten or eleven months. There are, of course, many families in the closed estates which have been overcrowded for several years, but who are unwilling to move to other outlying estates.
MR. BERNACCHI: Surely Mr. SALES' remarks should have been put in the positive, rather than the negative form, not criticizing the work that I have done as visiting member for Chai Wan, but advocating that equal priority should be given to the estates for which he is the visiting member?
MR. SALES: I rise in my turn to assure this Council that at no time did any Elected Member, much less myself, think of disparaging Mr. BERNACCHI's work in Chai Wan or even the protecting of Hawkers, etc., though they cause tremendous obstruction to all and sundry. I am very much interested in the priority given to the pavement dwellers by the Working Party. Sir, could the Commissioner tell this Council how many of these hut-dwellers remain to be settled?
COMMISSIONER FOR RESETTLEMENT: Mr. Chairman, In my reply, I said that 1,884 pavement dwellers had been resettled since October of last year; this did not include scavenging lane dwellers cleared during
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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
MR. SALES: Sir, as I recall it, as a member of the Working Party, no percentage was set for resettling, in fact, certain priorities were established after considering the factors involved in the low-cost housing and this is not the order of priority established by the Working Party. It is merely an order of priority for resettling these people according to the circumstances arising in each instance.
MR. HU:-Do I understand correctly, that if there is one vacant place for resettlement, then two persons apply for the same place,—does this mean the person from the first group has priority over the first person belonging to the second group?
COMMISSIONER FOR RESETTLEMENT:-Generally speaking, nobody applies for resettlement. The exceptional case is where a person might apply to be accepted into resettlement accommodation, as in compas- sionate cases in Category or Priority 2--and the limit for the current financial year for this Category is 3,000 places-My answer to the original question indicates that in the eleven months from the 1st October last year, some 2,496 persons have obtained resettlement through that particular facility.
MR. HU: Do I understand correctly that, as a matter of fact, there is no priority.
COMMISSIONER FOR RESETTLEMENT:---I personally would prefer to refer to these, not as Priorities, but as Categories. At the commence- ment of the finanical year we estimated how many out of each category could be offered resettlement accommodation in relation to the building programme for the year.
MR. HU:-Do I understand, Sir, that in the 3rd line on Page 2 of your answer, the word "priority" should be changed to "category". Is that correct?
COMMISSIONER FOR RESETTLEMENT:-This question came from Mr. SALES and he was quite correctly using the word "priority", since it is the word used in the White Paper.
MR. HU: Mr. Chairman, I should also like to ask one question concerning the Category 5. Is there any priority to the people who want to be decanted?
COMMISSIONER FOR RESETTLEMENT: -We have had this subject of decanting brought before the Council on a number of occasions and the level as I quoted in my supplementary answer is that decanting applies where families are living at below 16 sq. ft. of living space per adult. Once a family falls below that level, our records show that they are offered the facility of being moved into a larger room suitable for them. As you will see from my answer, any family that applies before they
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
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reach that low level of 16 sq. ft., will have to go on to the waiting list until they fall below that level and then their turn will come for decanting.
MRS. ELLIOTT:-Mr. Chairman, is it true of the people living in Li Cheng Uk, Shek Kip Mei and Tai Hang Tung?
COMMISSIONER FOR RESETTLEMENT:-Mrs. ELLIOTT is quite right in querying the position on Li Cheng Uk, Shek Kip Mei and Tai Hang Tung and also may include Hung Hom, as well. These are closed estates and generally speaking residents in resettlement estates prefer to be decanted into their own estate; and so the decanting of people from these four estates can only be done if they are prepared to move into such estates as Tze Wan Shan, or farther afield to Sau Mau Ping, Yau Tong etc. There will however be an opportunity for those overcrowded families in Shek Kip Mei when the extension estate is built.
MR. SALES-Sir, can the Commissioner give us the assurance that the residents of Chai Wan are given no privileged treatment under any circumstances?
MR. HU:-Do I understand it correctly Sir, that Priority is based on the time of application, if a person applies earlier, then he will be decanted earlier than if he applies later?
COMMISSIONER FOR RESETTLEMENT:-No. Priority for decanting is strictly in order of merit, or overcrowding as it were, and we are at present decanting families who have been overcrowded for the last ten or eleven months. There are, of course, many families in the closed estates which have been overcrowded for several years, but who are unwilling to move to other outlying estates.
MR. BERNACCHI:-Surely Mr. SALES' remarks should have been put in the positive, rather than the negative form, not criticizing the work that I have done as visiting member for Chai Wan, but advocating that equal priority should be given to the estates for which he is the visiting member?
MR. SALES: rise in my turn to assure this Council that at no time did any Elected Member, much less myself, think of disparaging Mr. BERNACCHI's work in Chai Wan or even the protecting of Hawkers etc. though they cause tremendous obstruction to all and sundry. I am very much interested in the priority given to the pavement dwellers by the Working Party. Sir, could the Commissioner tell this Council how many of these hut-dwellers remain to be settled?
COMMISSIONER FOR RESETTLEMENT:-Mr. Chairman, In my reply I said that 1,884 pavement dwellers had been resettled since October of last year; this did not include scavenging lane dwellers cleared during
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