Shek Kip Mei - History

History

A major fire on 25 December 1953, destroyed the Shek Kip Mei shantytown of immigrants from Mainland China that had fled to Hong Kong, leaving 53,000 people homeless.

After the fire, the governor Alexander Grantham launched a public housing program to introduce the idea of "multi story building" for the immigrant population living there. The new structure would standardize on fire-flood-proof construction. The program involved demolishing the rest of the makeshift houses left untouched by the fire, and the construction of the Shek Kip Mei Low-cost Housing Estate in their place. The apartments were small, only about 300 square feet (24 to 28 square metres). Each unit housed 5 people, and each building had a capacity of 2,500 people. The rent was HK$14 a month, while the rent for a commercial store downstairs was HK$100 per month. Foreign tourists visiting the apartment complexes referred to them as "prisons". Indeed, many scholars have argued that the government has been overstating the role of the fire in the history of public housing in Hong Kong.

At the north of Shek Kip Mei is Tai Wo Ping (大窩坪), along Beacon Hill. This was a cottage area from the 1950s to 1970s, but it has been developed into a public housing estate, Chak On Estate (澤安邨), and two private housing estates, Beacon Heights (畢架山花園) and Dynasty Heights (帝景峰).