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MR. HU:--Mr. Chairman, I would say that in my view the enlargement of the franchise is most important
CHAIRMAN: Are you asking a question again, Mr. Hu?
MR. HU:-I would like you, Mr. Chairman, as Chairman of this Council, to urge the Government to consider this question separately from other issues of local Government.
CHAIRMAN:-I shouldn't think so, Mr. Hu. After all, the Council's own report said, in the first phase of any reform, the franchise should remain as it is.
MR. HU-I have regret for that, Mr. Chairman.
(13) MR. HENRY H. L. Hu asked the following question:-
Could the Chairman inform the Council which Department is responsible for the cleanliness of Yue Kwong Road in Shek Pai Wan, Aberdeen? Is the Chairman aware that on the edge of the said Yue Kwong Road which forms as a circle there is constant dumping of rubbish in the last 3 or 4 years and has now become a health hazard? Could any measures be taken to improve this situation?
DR. DENNY M. H. HUANG, CHAIRMAN OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL HYGIENE SELECT COMMITTEE, replied as follows:-
The Resettlement Department undertakes the cleaning of Yue Kwong Road. However, it is not the road that is the problem; it is the bank on the far side of the road on to which there has been considerable dumping. I would like to thank Mr. Hu for drawing this matter to attention as it can only be agreed that some measures must be taken to clear the bank. I am informed that action is being taken accordingly.
(Dr. Denny M. H. HUANG left the meeting at this point).
MOTIONS.
(1) MRS. E. ELLIOTT moved the following Motion :-
"That this Council considers asking Government to set up immediately a Working Party for the purpose of reviewing the policies laid down in the White Paper 'Review of Policies for Squatter Control, 1964', in the light of present-day conditions, and also to examine the management of Resettlement Estates."
She said: The recommendations of the Working Party of this Council, set up in 1963, and the modified policies laid down in the Government White Paper of 1964, resulted from a need for housing for people unable to pay the high rents demanded during the housing shortage at that time. One of the more important decisions was the setting up of licensed areas for homeless people suffering from the previous policy of demolishing all huts erected after 1954. That decision brought great relief to the poorest people.
There exists today a crisis as great if not greater, as a result of unreasonable rent increases in the private sector, and because of the slowing up in recent years of the resettlement programme in all its priorities as we have seen this afternoon. I believe that today greater numbers of people are in housing need, and this need is no longer confined to the poorest: it includes also the middle class, some of whom pay half their earnings in rent.
Many of the policies laid down in 1964, therefore, though good for that time, have become obsolete in our present-day conditions. In my opinion, urgent revision is needed.
According to the rather conservative estimates of the 1970 Housing Board Report, about 1.3 million people are at present living in sub-standard conditions, in squatter huts or huts in licensed areas, in cottages, tenements or overcrowded resettlement estates, this figure including the Urban Area and the New Territories. In the next few years another half-million children will be born, bringing the need for housing to 2.4 million (if 1.3 + 0.5 = 1.8, not 2.4, possible OCR error but following original). These housing Board figures were estimated before the full effects of the 1970 rent increases began to be felt. Nor did they include the hundreds of thousands of people in resettlement estates living at the sub-standard density of 24 - 34 square feet per adult. It might therefore be estimated that in the next five years at least 2-3 million people will need housing of reasonable standard such as Low Cost Housing or better. Yet according to Housing Board estimates, provision is being made for only a little over one million units, two-thirds being in the Government sector and one-third in the private sector. This private sector, moreover, is not likely to cater for the persons most in need of housing, and already untold numbers of people have been driven out of their homes to seek hut spaces in licensed areas, while an unknown number of others are squatting in resettlement estates, in hawker stalls, and anywhere they can find.
We are therefore facing an absolutely critical stage in housing shortage, and unless some crash programme is embarked upon, our
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Page 27 of 242
34
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
MR. HU:--Mr. Chairman, I would say that in my view the enlargement of the franchise is most important
CHAIRMAN: Are you asking a question again, Mr. Hu?
MR. HU:-I would like you, Mr. Chairman, as Chairman of this Council, to urge the Government to consider this question separately from other issues of local Government.
CHAIRMAN:-I shouldn't think so, Mr. Hu. After all, the Council's own report said, in the first phase of any reform, the franchise should remain as it is.
MR. HU-I have regret for that, Mr. Chairman.
(13) MR. HENRY H. L. Hu asked the following question:-
Could the Chairman inform the Council which Department is responsible for the cleanliness of Yue Kwong Road in Shek Pai Wan, Aberdeen? Is the Chairman aware that on the edge of the said Yue Kwong Road which forms as a circle there is constant dumping of rubbish in the last 3 or 4 years and has now become a health hazard? Could any measures be taken to improve this situation?
DR. DENNY M. H. HUANG, CHAIRMAN OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL HYGIENE SELECT Committee, replied as follows:-
The Resettlement Department undertakes the cleaning of Yue Kwong Road. However, it is not the road that is the problem; it is the bank on the far side of the road on to which there has been considerable dumping. I would like to thank Mr. Hu for drawing this matter to attention as it can only be agreed that some measures must be taken to clear the bank. I am informed that action is being taken accordingly.
(Dr. Denny M. H. HUANG left the meeting at this point).
MOTIONS.
(1) MRS. E. ELLIOTT moved the following Motion :-
"That this Council considers asking Government to set up immediately a Working Party for the purpose of review- ing the policies laid down in the White Paper 'Review of
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
35
Policies for Squatter Control, 1964', in the light of present- day conditions, and also to examine the management of Resettlement Estates."
She said: The recommendations of the Working Party of this Council, set up in 1963, and the modified policies laid down in the Government White Paper of 1964, resulted from a need for housing for people unable to pay the high rents demanded during the housing shortage at that time. One of the more important decisions was the setting up of licensed areas for homeless people suffering from the previous policy of demolishing all huts erected after 1954. That deci- sion brought great relief to the poorest people.
There exists today a crisis as great if not greater, as a result of unreasonable rent increases in the private sector, and because of the slowing up in recent years of the resettlement programme in all its priorities as we have seen this afternoon. I believe that today greater numbers of people are in housing need, and this need is no longer confined to the poorest: it includes also the middle class, some of whom pay half their earnings in rent.
Many of the policies laid down in 1964, therefore, though good for that time, have become obsolete in our present-day conditions. In my opinion, urgent revision is needed.
According to the rather conservative estimates of the 1970 Housing Board Report, about 13 million people are at present living in sub- standard conditions, in squatter huts or huts in licensed areas, in cottages, tenements or overcrowded resettlement estates, this figure including the Urban Area and the New Territories. In the next few years another half-million children will be born, bringing the need for housing to 24 million. These housing Board figures were estimated before the full effects of the 1970 rent increases began to be felt. Nor did they include the hundreds of thousands of people in resettlement estates living at the sub-standard density of 24 - 34 square feet per adult. It might therefore be estimated that in the next five years at least 2-3 million people will need housing of reasonable standard such as Low Cost Housing or better. Yet according to Housing Board estimates, provision is being made for only a little over one million units, two-thirds being in the Government sector and one-third in the private sector. This private sector, moreover, is not likely to cater for the persons most in need of housing, and already untold numbers of people have been driven out of their homes to seek hut spaces in licensed areas, while an unknown number of others are squatting in resettlement estates, in hawker stalls, and anywhere they can find.
We are therefore facing an absolutely critical stage in housing shortage, and unless some crash programme is embarked upon, our
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