ENG-1967 — Page 177

LAND AND HOUSING

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Resettlement and Low-Cost Housing, published as a white paper in 1964, and later adopted by the Legislative Council as a guide to future policy, put the former tenants of dangerous pre-war buildings at the head of a priority list for resettlement. To avail themselves of this priority they pay a lump sum as an advance on their resettle- ment rent. This is returned to them in the form of a reduced rent over the first 125 months of their tenancy. In all 4,298 people were resettled under this scheme in 1967.

The revised resettlement policy also gives priority for accom- modation to compassionate cases and certain victims of natural disasters; to the occupants of cottage or resite areas which have to be cleared; to squatters living in tolerated huts in areas needed for redevelopment; to tenants of overcrowded rooms in existing resettlement estates and to pavement dwellers. There are also arrangements for those who do not have any priority for accom- modation (including the genuinely homeless) to erect huts in licensed areas. A total of 2,795 victims of natural disasters and compas- sionate cases were resettled in 1967, together with 1,222 from cottage areas and 1,224 pavement or rear-lane dwellers. Some 17,427 people living in over-crowded rooms in existing resettle- ment estates were also moved to new rooms.

The New Territories Administration is responsible for the control of squatters in the New Territories, with the exception of Tsuen Wan district where control has been transferred to the Resettlement Department. The more accessible parts of the New Territories are regularly patrolled and are divided into prohibited and non- prohibited areas. In prohibited' areas, such as the margins of roads, development areas, and land exposed to flooding, no new domestic huts are allowed. In non-prohibited areas temporary structures may be built with permission from the District Office. This year saw the completion of a new resettlement estate at Yuen Long, the first to be constructed outside Tsuen Wan district.

HOUSING

At the end of 1967, domestic accommodation in the urban areas (excluding resettlement estates) comprised 182,000 tenement floors, 50,000 small flats, 22,000 large flats, 1,050 houses and 59,500 low-cost housing units. The real estate market for this type