ENG-1957 — Page 230

196

HONG KONG ANNUAL REPORT

is no doubt that the majority realize that they are better housed than most of the families in normal tenement build ings in Hong Kong, and appreciate what is being done for. them. One indication of this is the fact that, out of a total of $4,600,000 due in 1957 as rent for rooms in the multi- storey estates, only $2,300 had to be written off as irrecover- able arrears.

All matters connected with the clearance and resettlement of squatters in the urban areas are the responsibility of the Resettlement Department, which came into existence early in 1954, and has four main functions: the clearance of sites required for various forms of permanent development and the resettlement of the squatters living on these sites; the resettlement of squatter fire victims; the administration of the Resettlement Areas and Estates; and the prevention of new squatting, either on vacant land or on the rooftops of tenement buildings. The department operates under the general direction of the Urban Council.

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All the large squatter areas with populations of over 15,000 have now been cleared with the result that squatter fires, although not infrequent, are much less serious. It has thus been possible for the past two years to give priority to the resettlement of persons living on sites required for various forms of permanent development, 'such as housing, schools, welfare centres, parks and playgrounds, roads, drains, water- works and factories. Nearly 36 acres of land were cleared for this purpose in 1957, all the former inhabitants, numbering 19,000 persons, being offered resettlement. It also proved possible to resettle nearly 4,000 squatter fire victims.

While the general pattern of clearance and resettlement operations remained unchanged in 1957, there were two notable developments. The first of these was the completion of a block of 70 self-contained flats at Lo Fu Ngam, Kowloon, to rehouse certain families formerly living in accommodation of a similar standard on the site of the Wong