ENG-1959 — Page 215

LAND AND HOUSING

175

During the year the Society allocated 58 flats to one commer- cial firm under a loan scheme, whereby firms lend money to the Society to cover the cost of construction and in return are assured of accommodation for a number of employees corresponding to the size of the loan. The loan is free of interest and is repaid in twenty years. Government also plans to provide accommodation for 1,000 of its junior employees in an estate at Shau Kei Wan under this scheme, and several firms have expressed interest in the scheme for the Tanner Hill flats.

Other voluntary societies interested in low-cost housing include the Hong Kong Model Housing Society, which in 1952 completed 100 flats in an estate at North Point and in subsequent years has added a further 200 flats; the Hong Kong Economic Housing Society, which in 1955 completed its estate housing 280 families at Lady Grantham Villas in Kowloon; and the Hong Kong Settlers Housing Corporation which has built 1,309 cottages housing 6,720 persons and is planning to build 9 seven-storey buildings at Tai Hang Sai (1,700 units) which will accommodate over 7,000

persons.

Many employers have also provided accommodation for their staff. Large industrial concerns have built dormitory-type accom- modation for their workers, and a number of public utility com- panies and commercial firms have built flats for employees and their families. A summary of the units of accommodation provided by nine such firms prior to and during 1959, is given below:

Prior to 1959 .. During 1959

Flats

955 (5,473) 250 (1,259)

Dormitories

(2,400)

(42)

Figures in brackets indicate the number of persons housed. As an employer, Government has fostered the formation of co- operative building societies by offering loans to groups of local civil servants on the pensionable establishment to enable them to purchase land and construct blocks of flats. By the end of 1959, 134 building co-operatives, with a total of 2,839 members, had been formed, and projects involving the loan of over $81,000,000 had been completed or approved.

1,243 flats have so far been built and occupied under these co-operative schemes, 518 of them during 1959. Further flats are under construction and further schemes under consideration.