ENG-1969 — Page 199

LAND AND HOUSING

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Home Ownership Committee and with a share capital subscribed by the Government, the Commonwealth Development Corpora- tion and four banks. It provides long-term loans up to $50,000 each for the purchase of approved domestic flats by persons earning $700 to $2,500 per month. This agency is assisted by the Government in other ways including a guarantee for a series of bond issues. Up to the end of 1969 57 development containing 4,868 flats has been approved by the agency for loan purposes. During the year 1,266 loan applications amounting to $33.1 million were approved, compared with $51.5 million for the previous year. Outstanding mortgage loans provided by the agency amounted to $8.7 million at the end of 1969.

The Hong Kong Housing Authority, a statutory body created in 1954 by the Housing Ordinance (Chapter 283), aims to provide suitable accommodation for as many as possible of those residents living in overcrowded and unsatisfactory conditions. The authority had housed 167,405 people in 27,379 self-contained flats in eight estates by the end of the year. One of these, Wah Fu Estate, was three-quarters completed; the last phase was expected to be ready for occupation by spring of 1970. This is the largest estate ever built by the authority, providing 7,788 domestic flats for 53,740 people. Another estate under construction is Ping Shek Estate in Kowloon. On completion in July 1970, it will provide homes for 29,208 people in 4,566 flats. An estate containing 6,063 flats for some 41,500 people will be built at Ho Man Tin, and site formation started before the end of the year.

When all the estates under construction and planning are com- pleted, the authority will house 218,595 people in 34,888 flats built at a capital cost of $331 million, $260 million from government loans and $71 million through self-financing. At the end of 1969, the authority had spent $244 million, and its rental income for the year was $32 million. The Government provides land at one-third of the estimated market value. Rents ranging from $53 a month for a four-person flat to $205 a month for a 13-person flat are calculated on the direct expenditure of each estate including a charge for amortisation of the cost of building and land, and a small budgeted surplus, which forms an element of self-financing for future building schemes.