Rooftop slum () or penthouse slum generally refers to

illegal housing Illegal construction (also known as illegal building or illegal housing) is construction work (or the result of such) without a valid construction permit. Besides the potential construction safety, technical hazards on uncontrolled construction s ...

on the rooftops of apartment buildings. In

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

, some people are unable to afford traditional apartments and are forced to wait years for affordable

public housing Public housing is a form of housing tenure in which the property is usually owned by a government authority, either central or local. Although the common goal of public housing is to provide affordable housing, the details, terminology, def ...

. They therefore live in

squatted Squatting is the action of occupying an abandoned or unoccupied area of land or a building, usually residential, that the squatter does not own, rent or otherwise have lawful permission to use. The United Nations estimated in 2003 that there ...

shacks on top of buildings. According to the Hong Kong population census, there were 47,091 rooftop dwellers in 2011 and this number is likely to have dropped as working class areas are redeveloped.

Context

A housing crisis developed in the 1950s and 1960s when a large number of refugees left

mainland China "Mainland China" is a geopolitical term defined as the territory governed by the People's Republic of China (including islands like Hainan or Chongming), excluding dependent territories of the PRC, and other territories within Greater China. ...

and moved to

, creating a large, unmet demand for affordable housing options and

squatting Squatting is the action of occupying an abandoned or unoccupied area of land or a building, usually residential, that the squatter does not own, rent or otherwise have lawful permission to use. The United Nations estimated in 2003 that there ...

in shanty towns or rooftop slums. The

census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses incl ...

of 1971 reported 27,000 people living in rooftop dwellings. In 1956, the estimated squatter population of Hong Kong was 450,000. Hong Kong is now one of the most densely populated places in the world. Between 2009 and 2014, residential property prices doubled.

Rooftop dwellings

According to the Hong Kong population census, there were 47,091 rooftop dwellers in 2011, 48,570 in 2006 and 77,930 in 2001. Many of these squats were to be found in the old

Kowloon Kowloon () is an urban area in Hong Kong comprising the Kowloon Peninsula and New Kowloon. With a population of 2,019,533 and a population density of in 2006, it is the most populous area in Hong Kong, compared with Hong Kong Island and t ...

districts of

Sham Shui Po Sham Shui Po is an area of Kowloon, Hong Kong, situated in the northwestern part of the Kowloon Peninsula, north of Tai Kok Tsui, east of Cheung Sha Wan and south of Shek Kip Mei (). It is located in and is the namesake of the Sham Shui P ...

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 Kowloon ...

, and

Tai Kok Tsui Tai Kok Tsui is an area west of Mong Kok in Kowloon, Hong Kong. The mixed land use of industrial and residential is present in the old area. The Cosmopolitan Dock and oil depots were previously located there. Blocks of high-rise residential b ...

. For example, the Hoi On Building in

housed over 100 people living on the roof in shacks. Some were made out of rudimentary materials such as wood, others were constructed more sturdily with brick walls and air-conditioning. The rooftop dwellings, generally built atop

tenement A tenement is a type of building shared by multiple dwellings, typically with flats or apartments on each floor and with shared entrance stairway access. They are common on the British Isles, particularly in Scotland. In the medieval Old Town, i ...

buildings from the 1950s and 1960s, typically range from . As of 2011, they were regularly sold in a

grey market A grey market or dark market (sometimes confused with the similar term " parallel market") is the trade of a commodity through distribution channels that are not authorized by the original manufacturer or trade mark proprietor. Grey market pr ...

for around HK$50,000. The shanty homes are contrasted against legal apartments of Hong Kong, the "world's most expensive luxury city". Many people have lived in rooftop dwellings for over 30 years. New residents are from other Asian countries, like

Nepal Nepal (; ne, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne, सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mai ...

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

, or from mainland China. Social worker Sze Lai-Shan, from the Society for Community Organization, comments: The number of illegal dwellings has reduced dramatically as working class areas of Hong Kong are

redeveloped Redevelopment is any new construction on a site that has pre-existing uses. It represents a process of land development uses to revitalize the physical, economic and social fabric of urban space. Description Variations on redevelopment include ...

. However, as of 2011 there were still more than 300,000 people on the waiting list for public housing and just 15,000 new apartment units built every year. When the rooftop dwellers are evicted, they can receive compensation of between HK$10,000 and HK$100,000 from the property developers or they can simply have their shacks burnt down. If they are offered public housing, this can be on islands far from their place of work and children's schools.

References

{{reflist Slums Illegal housing Housing in Hong Kong Squatting

Context

Rooftop dwellings

See also

References