more than small cubicles, and the original plan was to allocate per adult and half that for each child under 12. However, they were in reality often occupied by more than one family due to the extreme shortage of available housing. Facilities and sanitation were primitive, and communal. Until the establishment of the Housing Authority in 1973, Hong Kong's public housing was administered by the Resettlement Department. By that time, eleven old blocks of the estate had been pulled down, and modernisation of 18 blocks of the resettlement estate had commenced. Phased re-occupation of the re-numbered estate took place between 1978 and 1984. The distinction between "Upper" and "Lower" estates was henceforth disregarded. Mei Yu House (美如樓) and Mei Ying House (美映樓), representing the latest phase, were built on the location of Blocks 1 to 7 (the resettlement estate), and were mostly occupied on 18 July 2006. All remaining 1950s blocks were demolished since 20 June 2007, excluding Block 41, which is reserved for further revitalisation. Conservation Block 41 of the estate, Mei Ho House (美荷樓), the last remaining example of the "Mark II" building in a single-block configuration, has been listed as a Grade I historic building, and will be preserved tentatively as a record of Hong Kong's public housing development. In 2008, it was part of the seven buildings of Batch I of the Hong Kong Government's Revitalising Historic Buildings Through Partnership Scheme seeking adaptive reuse of government-owned historic buildings. On 17 February 2009, the government declared that the building would be used by the Hong Kong Youth Hostels Association as "City Hostel". The capital cost of the project was estimated at HK$192.3 million. Estimated completion time was early 2012. The hostel was finally opened in December 2013. It was closed due to the COVID-19 epidemic.* Covid Pandemic Mei Wui House of the estate was in locked down for mandatory testing on 17 February 2022. Block 21 was also put into lockdown from the next day to 20 February. Blocks As of 2021 the estate has 21 blocks, plus the preserved Block 41 presently in use as a youth hostel. The 21 blocks provide 10,800 public rental flats accommodating a design population of 26,400. Gallery See also List of public housing estates in Hong Kong Jockey Club Creative Arts Centre, housed in the former Shek Kip Mei Factory Estate References Further reading External links Home in Hong Kong.