Xinhua News Agency, Hong Kong, February 25th: The life of public housing
Xinhua News Agency reporter Su Wanming
"Public housing units are a place that makes people think, hate, and love." This sentence written by Fan Yongcong, one of the authors of "We all grew up in housing estates," represents a lot of public housing in Hong Kong. Emotions of others. Many Hong Kong people have or still live in public housing estates, where the human world is intriguing.
At present, it is difficult to apply for public housing in Hong Kong, and it has become a social issue of general concern to the public. According to the latest data released by the Housing Authority in early February 2020, at the end of December 2019, there were approximately 15,1900 general public housing applications and approximately 108,500 non-elderly one-person applications under the quota and points system. The waiting time is 5.4 years.
Shek Kip Mei: First Generation Public Housing Built on Ruins
There are three main types of housing in Hong Kong: public housing (public rental housing provided by the government), home ownership (similar to "price-limited commodity housing"), and private housing (commercial housing). Hong Kong's housing prices are high. Currently, more than 1/3 of Hong Kong residents live in public housing.
Shek Kip Mei Village in Sham Shui Po is the first public housing estate in Hong Kong. In the 1940s and 1950s, a large number of residents lived in wooden squatter areas around Kowloon, and fires occurred from time to time. On the evening of December 25, 1953, a fire broke out in the area around Shek Kip Mei Avenue, burning large wooden houses and leaving 58,000 people homeless.
Two months after the fire at Shek Kip Mei, the government built a two-story "Bao Ning bungalow" near the disaster site to house the victims. At the end of the same year, several “migration buildings” were completed at the disaster site, and the victims in the “Bao Ning Bungalow” moved in one after another. The construction of the Shek Kip Mei Migration House marked the birth of public housing in Hong Kong.
The resettlement building developed to the early 1970s and has gone through six generations. The first-generation building is designed as "H" or "I", with six or seven floors high, and the interior is designed as a narrow one-room apartment, with an area of more than eleven square meters, for five or six adults. Toilets, washrooms and shower rooms are shared and located on the corridor. Later, more and more resettlement buildings were built, and the nature changed from resettling the victims to improving the living conditions of squatter residents. In the 1960s, low-rent housing villages appeared.
The earliest resettlement building in Shijiewei Village has been transformed or rebuilt, and the only remaining Meihe Building has also become a living museum. But when you walk into the Rainbow Village Ziwei Building, which was set up in 1962, you can still feel the simple and practical style of the first generation of public housing: each floor in the building has a corridor of dozens of meters long, and inside dozens of iron gates on both sides, A family of public housing. In the space of 20 square meters, there is a door at the top of the house, a window at the end of the house, and two or two bunk beds beside the door. There is a bathroom and a kitchen at the end of the bed, which are only one or two square meters in size.
Ms. Zhang's mother-in-law has lived in a public house in Ziwei Tower since 1962. After her marriage, Ms. Zhang also lived with her husband and mother-in-law. "At that time, if we could have such a place in Hong Kong to shelter from the wind and rain, we would be satisfied if we had a home," said Ms. Zhang.
New Town: The "Golden Age" of Public Housing
In 1972, the Hong Kong government formally launched a far-reaching policy, the "Ten-Year Housing Project", which is mainly used by the government to build public housing or rebuild former resettlement buildings, build public housing estates, and rent them to Hong Kong citizens at low prices to improve their living conditions. Since then, some public housing estates with higher “gold content” have appeared.
At that time, the area of public housing had been expanded, and interior design was valued. The pattern of one bedroom, one living room, one kitchen, and one bathroom was widely used to satisfy urban living. In order to adapt to the reality that the density of households has increased significantly and the demand for public space is increasingly urgent, public housing villages have set aside a large area of open space to support the construction of children's playgrounds, markets, parking lots and other facilities. In the 1990s, housing construction was gradually standardized.
At that time, public housing was in short supply, and citizens had a short waiting time, and some estates also occupied "out-of-print" good locations. "Such housing estates in Hong Kong are rare now," said Li Linchang, the head of a community organization in Li'an Village, Shatin. Joined in 1994, Li'an Village was built in accordance with the mountains, with high and low levels, mountains and forests, and fresh air. Large public spaces are scattered among 5 buildings. Old people rest on benches under the trees, children play in the playground, and living facilities are readily available.
As land use in the central urban area becomes increasingly tight, more and more housing estates are being built outside the central urban area, becoming the birthplace of Hong Kong's new towns. It is understood that Tsuen Wan, Sha Tin and Tuen Mun have become the earliest new towns in Hong Kong to develop in accordance with the Ten-Year Housing Project. By the 1980s, Tai Po, Yuen Long, Fanling, and Sheung Shui had developed into second-generation new towns. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Tin Shui Wai, Tseung Kwan O and Tung Chung also expanded, which basically formed. The current pattern of public housing estates in Hong Kong is also the pattern of new towns in Hong Kong.
In the 21st century, there is less and less land available for building public housing in Hong Kong. The amount of public housing built has declined, the waiting time has been extended, and public space has been squeezed. However, the interior design of public housing is small and exquisite, more humane.
In 2003, Dajia Building of Baoda Village just joined the company, and Mr. Zhang finally applied for one. Upon entering Mr. Zhang's home, the brown-yellow tiled floor was clean and tidy. The space of more than 30 square meters was designed as a three-bedroom, one-living room, one kitchen and one bathroom, enough for their family of four and one worker. Couples often watch TV on the sofa in the corner of the living room after a meal. The TV screen is only about one meter away from people. "The supply of public housing is in short supply, and the waiting time is getting longer and longer. It is already very happy to have such a public housing." Mr. Zhang said.
Taste of home in Yamura
"Public housing units are a place where people think, hate, and love." Even with mixed feelings, many public housing tenants think back to yesterday. More memories are still beautiful and warm, and nostalgia for public housing life. ——That's the feeling for home.
In the evening, the scent of honey chicken wings in the corridor, parents and children discussing dinner report cards, the iron door was closed by the wind, the enthusiastic neighbourhood held hangers to help open ... The warm scene, The authors who grew up in the estate like this, recorded it with affection.
Yiming Village is one of the few public houses in Hong Kong with exposed stairs. Once upon a time, there was a lot of cool neighbourhoods at the end of the meal, and there was laughter from time to time. Late at night, there are often some neighbourhoods that can't sleep. "It's not just a passageway, it's a spiritual harbor for the neighbours," said a citizen.
"The most worry-free and fastest living fragments of my life are all there." "Twenty years of public housing life has made me understand the true meaning of 'home'." "No matter how my life goes, my family It is the happiest moment in life to be closely accompanied and supported each other. "Fan Yongcong wrote with emotion, between words and lines, full of memories, beautiful and full.