ENG-1966 — Page 31

8

REVIEW

garages, car parks, clubs, libraries and day nurseries are among the amenities provided. From the beginning much attention has been paid to management of the estates with the object of building up an efficient administration combined with good personal rela- tions between landlord and tenant. Rents, which run roughly at about 40 cents per square foot of living space per month, generally amount to about one-fifth or one-sixth of the family income.

By the end of 1966 the Housing Society had housed 90,701 people, with the expectation of housing 124,890 by 1970, while the Housing Authority had housed 134,143 and expected to house 295,000 by 1971. To meet the challenge posed by the numbers of people needing housing at rents which they can afford, together with the shortage of land and the need for the utmost economy, the Authority at present intends building an estate of 50-storey blocks, which will be considerably higher than anything yet built in Hong Kong and will provide, naturally, a greater amount of space at ground level.

In 1962 yet another need was seen-that of families who were living in insanitary and overcrowded conditions, often much worse than those of squatters and who, because they earned less than $500 a month, were not eligible for accommodation in the estates of the Housing Authority and Housing Society or, because they were not squatters, for resettlement. The original target for this form of low-cost housing was to provide accommodation on the basis of 35 square feet per person for 20,000 people a year. Each family unit consists of a single-room flat with a private balcony, a cooking bench and water point; a lavatory and shower is shared between two units. The standard of this accommodation is better than that provided in the resettlement estates, but is lower than that provided by the Housing Authority. By 1966, 67,275 people were living in low-cost housing estates and the target was for 220,000 to be housed by 1970. Rents in these estates are roughly at the rate of 26 cents per square foot per month.

An extensive review of the policies for squatter control, resettle- ment and low-cost housing was conducted in 1963. One effect of this was to spread the net of those eligible for re-housing in the resettlement estates to include evicted tenants from dangerous pre-war buildings, certain victims of natural disasters and those