ENG-1976 — Page 137

HOUSING AND LAND

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domestic blocks and associated community facilities. Provision will also be made for a multi-storey workshop block. Including the Upper Pak Tin reception estate, the total cost of this project will be about $206 million. It is hoped that the entire scheme can be completed by 1981.

The Tai Hang Tung estate at present comprises 14 blocks which accommodate 35,000 people. The first stage of its redevelopment scheme will involve the construc- tion of a reception estate on an adjacent site of 11 acres to provide housing for about 14,000. The reception estate will also incorporate a commercial complex, a multi- storey car park, school sites and open spaces. Provision will be made for some 2,364 small, medium and large-sized flats. As accommodation becomes available in the first stage, arrangements will be made for the rehousing of tenants from the Tai Hang Tung estate so that eventually the old blocks can be demolished and replaced by new accommodation for 16,000.

The Chai Wan West estate comprises 12 blocks which accommodate 27,000 people. The redevelopment scheme will provide new self-contained accommodation for about 22,000. Provision will also be made for a major commercial complex, schools and recreation areas. The scheme was initiated in March 1976 with the commencement of rehousing operations involving Blocks 24 and 25. The rehousing commitment in respect of these two blocks comprises 841 families (4,700 people), 29 shops, two workshops and two schools.

To help formulate rehousing procedures, a sample survey of domestic tenants in the estate was undertaken in December 1975. This showed that the great majority of the tenants wished to move. Within a matter of weeks of the announcement of the scheme, all the domestic tenants in Blocks 24 and 25 made application for rehousing, about 80 per cent expressing a desire to move to the Hing Wah estate nearby. About 160 families asked for rehousing in cheaper accommodation at Chai Wan. Another 33 stated a preference for rehousing in other estates, mostly in Kowloon.

Tai Wo Hau, the fourth redevelopment scheme, was started in June 1976. The estate currently houses about 42,000 people in 19 blocks. The first phase will require the rehousing of 803 families (4,258 people). Tenants in Blocks 12 and 13 are being offered new or vacated flats mainly in the Tsuen Wan-Kwai Chung district as the majority of the families have strong socio-economic ties with that area.

Temporary Housing

The temporary housing programme provides an interim solution to the problem of homeless people who are not eligible for public housing and who cannot afford private housing. Temporary housing is considered unsatisfactory by the Housing Authority's own definition and it will eventually be demolished and the occupants reaccommodated in public housing estates.

Beginning in 1964, homeless people were offered a piece of vacant ground in a 'licensed area' provided only with water standpipes and dry latrines. In these areas licensees were permitted to erect a simple hut of wood or tin. From time to time the areas were cleared of huts and the occupants offered accommodation in public housing estates.