ENG-1981 — Page 151

HOUSING AND LAND

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about 170 000 units

mostly in substandard, pre-war tenements devoid of proper sanitation and facilities - was manifestly inadequate. Division and further sub-division of rooms into cubicles and bed spaces robbed entire floors of light and air. The new arrivals and those who could not bear the desperate overcrowding, nor afford the soaring rents, took to the paddy fields and steep hillsides, where they built flimsy squatter huts which, at that time, housed a quarter of the population.

The Shek Kip Mei fire provided the catalyst for an ambitious housing programme. Within 53 days, the Public Works Department had built a series of two-storey blocks to provide emergency housing for 35 000 of the fire victims. These soon gave way to the six and seven-storey resettlement blocks which are still a feature of the urban scene.

In 1954, the Resettlement Department was formed to clear and rehouse squatters and to manage the new blocks. The Housing Authority was also established to build and manage a better type of public housing for which tenement dwellers, living in crowded conditions and earning low incomes, could apply through a waiting list. A total of 68 estates were built providing both types of housing, and these met with an overwhelming demand that has not diminished over the years.

In 1972, the Governor, Sir Murray MacLehose, announced a 10-year public housing programme aimed at breaking the back of Hong Kong's housing problem. As part of this housing drive, the Resettlement Department and the Housing Authority were amalga- mated in 1973 into a new Housing Authority to oversee the new housing programme. Since then, more than 30 additional estates - all of them self-contained communities - have been built under this programme and today more than two and a quarter million people, or 44 per cent of the population, live in public housing of one sort or another provided or subsidised by the government.

The Housing Authority

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The Hong Kong Housing Authority, established under the Housing Ordinance 1973, is a statutory body responsible for co-ordinating all aspects of public housing. The Housing Authority advises the Governor on housing matters; plans and builds public housing estates for categories of people determined with the approval of the Governor; manages public housing estates throughout the territory - including cottage areas, temporary housing areas and transit centres; clears land for development; and controls squatting. In addition, in 1977 the Housing Authority was invited, on behalf of the government, to plan, build and subsequently manage flats provided under the Home Ownership Scheme. Legal powers to carry out these functions are provided by the Housing Ordinance. The Housing Authority also acts as the government's agent in the building and management of flatted factories, which provide small factory units for clearees operating industrial undertakings.

The Housing Authority is chaired by the Secretary for Housing and comprises 13 unofficial members (eight of whom are Urban Councillors), and seven official members. All members are appointed by the Governor. The Housing Authority is responsible for its own finances and management. Under revised financial arrangements drawn up in 1977, the Housing Authority is no longer required to pay any premium for land granted by the government for public rental housing. However, land value is written into the Housing Authority's balance sheet as a government contribution. Loans from the Development Loan Fund for new public rental housing estates are repaid over 40 years, with a notional five per cent interest shown in the authority's balance sheet as a government contribution. Capital funding for the public housing programme - now set at a production target of