The Hong Kong Housing Authority (HA) implemented the Quality Housing Reform in 2000. One of the important changes was adopting non-standardised design for public housing instead of standardised design, so as to introduce more people-oriented and site-specific design concepts. For buildings newly completed in those years, such as Yau Lai Estate, emphasis was placed on microclimate studies with more greening and sustainable development elements. For old buildings such as So Uk Estate, comprehensive redevelopment was carried out, and the new So Uk Estate has transformed into a modern housing estate attaching importance to both development and conservation. Besides, for the design and operation of Domain, the large shopping centre in Yau Tong, apart from commercial operations, the provision of community facilities was also considered important in motivating community participation. In 2023, HA leveraged on its experiences accumulated over the years, and conducted Residents Surveys in a number of housing estates. The Well-being Design Guide has been formulated for public housing construction in the future, so that apart from the quantity, speed and efficiency of public housing supply, the quality of public housing development will also be enhanced to continue creating better living environment for the residents.

With the growing population in Hong Kong and shortage of land available for development in urban area, the Government decided to construct public housing estates in remote areas. Wah Fu Estate was the first public housing estate to incorporate this concept. It was a self-contained community providing various essential services, such as shops, car parks and a bus terminus, as well as community and recreational facilities. In early 1970s, the Government announced the Ten-year Housing Programme, which provided flats with a complete range of facilities and a decent living environment for 1.8 million Hong Kong citizens. In 1973, in order to support the Ten-year Housing Programme, the Government re-structured the existing housing organisations. The Hong Kong Housing Authority was established for coordination, and the Resettlement Department and Housing Division of the Urban Services Department were amalgamated into the Housing Department as the executive arm of the Housing Authority. In 1976, the Government decided to launch the Home Ownership Scheme, and formulated the Long Term Housing Strategy in 1987, so that better-off public housing tenants and low to middle-income families could buy their own flats. In this episode, Dr LIAO Poon-huai, Donald, former Secretary for Housing, is invited to have a dialogue with HO Wing-yin, Winnie, the Secretary for Housing, to tell the stories of public housing.

On Christmas Day 1953, a huge fire swept the Shek Kip Mei squatter area and made some 50 000 people homeless. To rehouse squatter residents, the first batch of eight blocks of six-storey resettlement buildings were completed in Shek Kip Mei at the end of 1954 which marked the beginning of Hong Kong’s public housing development. In 1954, the Resettlement Department was established to manage the multi-storey resettlement estates arising from the fire in Shek Kip Mei in 1953. In April 1954, the Hong Kong Housing Authority was established. It was tasked to provide housing units of a better quality at a lower rent for “the low-paid among the white-collar class”. In 1964, the Government released the white paper, “Review of Policies for Squatter Control, Resettlement and Government Low-cost Housing”, which decided to accelerate the construction of resettlement and low-cost housing, develop large-scale resettlement estates and build taller buildings in order to meet the huge demand for housing.