ENG-1972 — Page 141

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LAND AND HOUSING

review and also appeal to the District Court. Reviews are carried out by the Commis- sioner or one of his more senior officers in consultation with an appointed panel known as the Rent Increases Advisory Panel. There is no right of review in respect of the five per cent increases in rent. From its enactment in June 1970 to the end of 1972 the Commissioner had received 7,727 rental agreements for endorsement, 19,546 applications for increases in rent, 885 applications for reviews of rental increase certificates issued, and 5,798 copies of notices of further increases in rent not exceed- ing five per cent.

Multi-storey Building Management

The problems caused by the multiple ownership of large multi-storey buildings led to the enactment in June 1970 of the Multi-storey Buildings (Owners Incorpora- tion) Ordinance which, as its name implies, enables the owners of all parts of a multi- storey building to join together and form a single management body to look after the building. The staff of the City District Offices and District Offices in the New Territories have devoted much time to explaining the legislation and assisting owners with the procedures leading to incorporation. By the end of 1972, the total number of incorporated building owners was 429. Satisfactory progress has been made by public-spirited owners in improving the physical environment (especially cleanliness and building maintenance) and communal relations in their buildings. Federations of these owners' associations have also been formed in several City Districts with the object of improving their efficiency and developing a local community spirit. The Secretariat for Home Affairs has also organised seminars for the chairmen or committee members of these associations which serve not only to impart some knowl- edge of management to the participants but also, through exchange of opinions, to foster better public relations between property owners and the government.

Multi-storey building associations are based on a physical and social entity and on the pressing need for owners and tenants of a particular building to tackle common problems. The formation of these associations brings together people who are con- cerned with their living environment despite differences of dialect, nationality, occupation and—to a certain extent-class. Such associations are thus a strong geo- graphically based means of social integration.

Housing

In his address to the Legislative Council during its opening session in October, the Governor said of housing that there is no field in which Hong Kong's pressure of people has produced acuter problems or in which the government's response has been so vigorous and received such international acclaim. He pointed out that the problem still nevertheless remained, and that present housing inadequacies are a constant source of friction between the government and the people, offending Hong Kong's humanity, civic pride and political good sense. He went on to reveal plans to vest in the Housing Authority powers and functions hitherto divided between several bodies, adjusting and widening its unofficial membership suitably, and to associate with it a unified Housing Department, in order to give fresh impetus to the work of resolving this 20-year-old problem. Its target will be to build homes for 1,800,000 people over the next 10 years, mainly in large new towns.