In 1994, the Hong Kong government suddenly launched an initiative to tear down "rooftop dwellings", even though it had actually accepted their existance for many years. The Housing Authority regarded them as private property and denied owners the opportunity to apply for public housing. Now the government has ordered these 40,000 dwellings to be removed, without offering fair resettlement terms for the residents who had moved in after 1982. Video Power recorded the negotiations before some of these houses were torn down in Mongkok.