
Resettlement Areas, or Resettlement Estates ( zh, 徙置區) are an early form of
public housing in Hong Kong
Public housing in Hong Kong is a set of mass housing programmes through which the Government of Hong Kong provides affordable housing for lower-income residents. It is a major component of housing in Hong Kong, with nearly half of the populatio ...
. They were built between 1954 and 1975. The designs used are Mark I to Mark VII. Most are found in the
new towns of Hong Kong (
Kwun Tong
Kwun Tong is an area in the Kwun Tong District of Hong Kong, situated at the eastern part of the Kowloon Peninsula, and its boundary stretches from Lion Rock in the north to Lei Yue Mun in the south, and from the winding paths of Kowl ...
, Kwai Chung, Tsuen Wan, Tuen Mun, and Yuen Long). It was managed by the
Resettlement Department
The Resettlement Department () was a department of the Government of Hong Kong, responsible for constructing resettlement estates for homeless refugees, established in 1954. In 1973, the Resettlement Department and the Building Section of the ...
. In 1973, it was organized into
Hong Kong Housing Authority
The Hong Kong Housing Authority (HA) is the main provider of public housing in Hong Kong. It was established in April 1973 under the Housing Ordinance and is an agency of the Government of Hong Kong. In the same year, the Resettlement Depa ...
. Then, resettlement areas began to be referred as 'estates'. It was classified as 'Category B Public Housing Estates'. Newer housing projects are called 'Category A Public Housing Estates'. Today, only
Mei Ho House
Mei Ho House (), formerly part of Shek Kip Mei Estate, Hong Kong, is the last remaining example of a "Mark I" building in a single-block configuration. While the other buildings of the estate dating from the 1950s have been demolished, being re ...
remains standing as a Mark I block.
History
It began when
a fire destroyed Shek Kip Mei in 1953. The government built two-story bungalows to accommodate the fire victims. It would later become
Shek Kip Mei Estate
Shek Kip Mei Estate is the first public housing estate in Hong Kong. It is located in Sham Shui Po and is under the management of the Hong Kong Housing Authority. The estate was constructed as a result of a fire in Shek Kip Mei in 1953, to se ...
.
The blocks would later evolve into Mark blocks and would be known as ''Multi-Story Housing''. The name for these estates at the time would be called "old or new". The areas would later redevelop and rebuilt multiple times in the later years. An example of this is
Kwai Chung Estate.
Early estates
The
Resettlement Department
The Resettlement Department () was a department of the Government of Hong Kong, responsible for constructing resettlement estates for homeless refugees, established in 1954. In 1973, the Resettlement Department and the Building Section of the ...
has 25 such estates located all over Hong Kong. The estates contained seven types of blocks, ranging from Mark I to Mark VII, in which it began to be considered to be a
slab block. Six of them were managed by the former agency, and the seventh one would later be managed by the
Hong Kong Housing Authority
The Hong Kong Housing Authority (HA) is the main provider of public housing in Hong Kong. It was established in April 1973 under the Housing Ordinance and is an agency of the Government of Hong Kong. In the same year, the Resettlement Depa ...
. Mark I and Mark II blocks are only seven stories tall, which were short by today's standards. The first two blocks are also H-shaped. Some blocks are named with
English wording. Usually, the naming scheme has only 25
letters in the alphabet, since
I is omitted due to it having confusion with the number 1. For example, the scheme goes from the first to the next, and when all the letters are used, it restarts all over again, like AA and BB.
Mei Ho House
Mei Ho House (), formerly part of Shek Kip Mei Estate, Hong Kong, is the last remaining example of a "Mark I" building in a single-block configuration. While the other buildings of the estate dating from the 1950s have been demolished, being re ...
is the only Mark I or Mark II block standing.
Mark Blocks
Mark Blocks are an early type of public housing that preceded the designs of modern public housing blocks. There are seven types of Mark blocks. It improved by each design, from Mark I as H-shaped to Mark VII as a slab block. Early blocks have small units. The height may vary by type. The conditions are poor. Early blocks have no bathroom and kitchen, making it unhabitable by modern standards. Later designs incorporated a kitchen and a bathroom.
Today
Three of the types of resettlement blocks (from Mark I to Mark VI) have yet to be demolished. The types are:
*
Mei Ho House
Mei Ho House (), formerly part of Shek Kip Mei Estate, Hong Kong, is the last remaining example of a "Mark I" building in a single-block configuration. While the other buildings of the estate dating from the 1950s have been demolished, being re ...
(Block 41 of
Shek Kip Mei Estate
Shek Kip Mei Estate is the first public housing estate in Hong Kong. It is located in Sham Shui Po and is under the management of the Hong Kong Housing Authority. The estate was constructed as a result of a fire in Shek Kip Mei in 1953, to se ...
): One of the first ever blocks. It has been preserved. It is now a
youth hostel
A hostel is a form of low-cost, short-term shared sociable lodging where guests can rent a bed, usually a bunk bed in a dormitory, with shared use of a lounge and sometimes a kitchen. Rooms can be mixed or single-sex and have private or shared ...
.
*Blocks 10 & 11 of
Shek Lei Estate: Currently used as
interim housing. Both blocks will be demolished in December 2022. It would be completed by 2028 and 2,800 new units would be built.
The school will be rebuilt by mid-2022.
See also
*
Rooftop schools
A roof ( : roofs or rooves) is the top covering of a building, including all materials and constructions necessary to support it on the walls of the building or on uprights, providing protection against rain, snow, sunlight, extremes of temper ...
*
Matchbox schools
References
{{Public housing estates in Hong Kong
Public housing in Hong Kong