ENG-1975 — Page 132

LAND AND HOUSING

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The Housing Authority is responsible for housing all categories of people eligible for public housing. The majority are families displaced from Crown land needed for development or from dangerous tenement buildings; families which become home- less due to natural disaster; and families unsatisfactorily housed and registered on the authority's waiting list. During the year, 85,972 people were given public housing, bringing the total number of estate tenants to more than 1.8 million.

In view of the general increase in workers' earnings, the authority has raised the income limits for applicants on the waiting list for public housing. These applicants must have a family of at least three people, and the income ceiling is now $1,500 for families of three to six, rising to $2,200 for families of 10 or more.

The Housing Department has been increasing its professional staff in the construction branch and using more economical semi-mechanical and rationalised traditional building methods to reach the goal of the 10-year housing programme.

At the end of the year, 17 public housing estates were in various stages of con- struction. Six estates Hing Wah, Lek Yuen, Lei Muk Shue, Lai King, Kwai Shing and Ha Kwai Chung-were in an advanced stage of construction or nearing comple- tion.

In the design of new estates and housing blocks careful consideration is given to ensure, as far as the cost limits allow, that residents are provided with full amenities such as open spaces and welfare facilities. Fittings include communal television antennae and piped gas fittings in current designs. Comprehensive commercial com- plexes are provided in estates where the population within the estate and surrounding areas justifies the construction.

The year 1975 marked the completion of the Oi Man housing estate in the Ho Man Tin area. This estate is built on a choice site in the heart of Kowloon and it is the first to include a fully air-conditioned commercial complex with shopping arcades, supermarket, department store, banks, restaurants, and modern covered cooked-food stalls. Oi Man was officially opened by the Acting Governor, Sir Denys Roberts, on November 20, and by the end of the year the estate housed about 43,000 people.

Besides building new estates, the older housing blocks will gradually be phased out through conversion or redevelopment to bring about major improvements in the living conditions of the 500,000 people who were rehoused between 1954 and 1962. The first conversion project is progressing well at Lower Shek Kip Mei estate and initial steps were taken during the year to redevelop Chai Wan and Tai Hang Tung

estates.

Housing Authority Factory Estates

These enable small scale operators of squatter factories, workshops and other industrial undertakings to continue making a living when their structures are demolish- ed in clearance operations. There are altogether 26 flatted factory blocks of five or seven storeys providing a total of about 9,400 standard-sized units of 256 square feet each. Two more factory blocks containing 800 units have been completed at Kowloon Bay. More than 100 different types of manufacture are undertaken in these factory blocks, which make a useful contribution to the Hong Kong economy.