Resettlement Department

[1] In December 1953, a major fire destroyed the slum area in Shek Kip Mei and more than 50,000 refugees from Mainland China were made homeless.

[2] The development of public housing marked a radical shift from the laissez-faire philosophy of the Government.

[3] In order to resettle the homeless refugees in a short period of time, Holmes took the lead to construct a number of resettlement estates on the burnt ground in Shek Kip Mei and in its neighboring area.

[4] After the creation of the Resettlement Department, constructing public housing estate for resettling the poor people became one of the primary policy goals set by the government in postwar Hong Kong.

In October 1955, when he succeeded the retired Harold Giles Richards as the Director of Urban Services, Ronald Holmes stepped down from the Resettlement Department and was succeeded by Arthur Walton as Commissioner of Resettlement.