'Help transitional housing tenants put down roots'
Researchers from the Hong Kong Polytechnic University on Thursday said the government needs to put stronger community programmes in place in the growing Northern Metropolis if they do not want a repeat of the "social and community issues" that came with the early development of Tung Chung and Tin Shui Wai in the 90s. The new towns were initially plagued by issues such as violence and high suicide rates that the researchers say can be avoided by encouraging the new residents of the Northern Metropolis to put down their roots. Ling Kar-kan, the principal investigator of the study, said it is important for people who live in transitional housing projects in the area not to feel as if they are "temporary" residents there. He said concerted efforts should be made so these people eventually settle down in the area. "The government should work proactively with the NGOs to establish necessary community support schemes with a view to assisting their tenants to settle smoothly in public housing projects located in the Northern Metropolis," the report said. Ling is bullish about the economic prospects for the new development area, saying the jobs will come. "If you really go to the Northern Metropolis to have a walk... you can see a lot of construction activities have commenced, and you can imagine, if there's one construction site, actually it can provide a lot of job opportunities for the skilled construction worker, for the cleaners, for the other supportive jobs."