ENG-1962 — Page 227

LAND AND HOUSING

183

reproduced many of the unsatisfactory features of the squatter areas, while the majority of squatters were too poor to be able to build or purchase the type of cottage required. This difficulty was partly overcome by the construction of cottages by welfare organizations which rented them to approved settlers, either direct or through Government, or accepted payment for them by instal- ments. But the fundamental objection remained that this form of resettlement was uneconomic in both land and money and could not be used on a scale which would make real impact on the squatter problem as a whole.

In 1954, after a disastrous squatter fire at Shek Kip Mei in which 53,000 people lost their homes, there was a drastic change in policy. A Resettlement Department was set up, under the general control of the Urban Council, to co-ordinate the duties of squatter control and clearance which had previously been under- taken by several different departments. Government funds were then provided to build multi-storey accommodation blocks into which squatters could be resettled. These blocks, designed and built by the Public Works Department, were kept as simple as possible so that they could be put up quickly and then let at rents which the squatters could afford.

Basically each new building was in the form of an 'H' with communal washing and latrine facilities on each of the seven floors. Individual rooms varied in size from just under 100 square feet to just over 300 square feet with the majority of 120 square feet designed to house a family of four or five adults. Twenty- four square feet for an adult was taken as the absolute minimum for health and comfort. With only minor modifications, this design had been perpetuated in more than 200 multi-storey blocks by the end of 1962.

Rooms were allocated according to the size of the family rather than the rent they could afford. Rents were fixed at the lowest possible level to cover reimbursement of the capital cost of the building over 40 years (at 34 per cent per annum compound interest) plus an element for management and land costs. The rent of a standard 120 square feet room was fixed at $14 a month. No charge was made for the communal water supply but electricity, if it was installed at a tenant's request, was at his own expense; communal lighting was provided by Government.