ENG-1968 — Page 194

LAND AND HOUSING

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The categories of persons eligible for resettlement were laid down in order of priority in the 1964 White Paper Review of Policies for Squatter Control, Resettlement and Government Low- Cost Housing. These categories and the number of people resettled under each head during the year are:

(i) former domestic tenants of buildings, demolished as dan- gerous and subject to the Demolished Buildings (Redevel- opment of Sites) Ordinance, who have made an advance payment of rent for resettlement accommodation (which is returned to them in the form of a reduced rent over the first 125 months of their tenancy) 2,060 persons;

(ii) special compassionate cases (the number to be determined annually by the Urban Council) and certain victims of natural disaster 3,825 persons;

(iii) the present occupants of cottage resettlement or resite areas

needed for permanent development 13,690 persons;

(iv) people presently occupying tolerated structures on Crown

land required for development 20,081 persons;

(v) the tenants of overcrowded resettlement rooms 21,917

persons;

(vi) pavement dwellers occupying tolerated structures 3,600

persons.

Clearances undertaken during the year freed 54.6 acres of land for development. $145,586 was paid as ex-gratia compensation to people who had opened up land for cultivation without legal tenure before October 1954 and to large scale pigbreeders. 811 shops and workshops were cleared, of which 471 were resettled and 340 were found to be ineligible for resettlement. In addition, 136 factories had to be cleared. Of these, 60 were resettled into resettlement factory estates, while 42 were not eligible for resettlement and 32 rejected resettlement. A further two factories will be resettled provided they change their trade to one suitable for operation in resettlement factories.

HOUSING

Hong Kong with a large population in a small area has long had housing problems and these have been increased in recent years by