ABSTRACT
This chapter is devoted to a brief overview of public housing policy which provides an essential context for understanding the issue surrounding Aged Temporary Housing Areas (ATHAs) and also identifies the urban minorities whose housing needs are ignored. It depicts the structure of housing provision in the early 1990s, and in particular the range of public housing provision. The chapter outlines the production and allocation policies of public housing flats and highlights where a shortfall of public rental housing flats. It also points out that the housing needs of some urban minorities have received insufficient attention in public housing policy. The chapter examines further the nature and management of Temporary Housing Areas (THAs), and their role in the public housing policy. The main argument is that squatter area clearance is one of the means by which the government regulates the pattern of land use in urbanization.
