After the end of World War II in 1945, Hong Kong was devastated and traumatised in the post-war aftermath.

In 1947, The Lord Mayor of London donated a sum of 14,000 pounds from its Air Raid Distress Fund to the Hong Kong Social Welfare Council.

It was the first-ever independent statutory body in Hong Kong that undertook public housing affairs.

In 1952, the first rental housing estate in Hong Kong, Sheung Li Uk, was completed in Sham Shui Po, providing 5 blocks with 360 residential units and accommodating 1,900 tenants.

To break out from the communal design which prevailed at that time, Sheung Li Uk provided self-contained flats with kitchens, bathrooms and balconies.