A year after the Shek Kip Mei fire, the government built eight six-storey Type H resettlement blocks on the site, making it the first resettlement area in Hong Kong. By 1963, a total of 29 Type H resettlement blocks, each of six or seven storeys high, had been completed, and they became known as Shek Kip Mei Estate. Built of reinforced concrete, the blocks were also rented at a lower price than the squatter homes which provided the residents with a safe living environment.

As the earliest public housing estate built in Hong Kong, Shek Kip Mei Estate pioneered the idea of public housing in Hong Kong, and its success subsequently led to the construction of similar resettlement areas across Hong Kong and Kowloon between 1954 and 1961, including Lei Cheng Uk, Tai Hang Tung, Wong Tai Sin and Chai Wan. The construction of Shek Kip Mei Estate also enabled the government to accumulate valuable experience. In response to the development of local communities and residents’ needs, housing designs became more diverse, with blocks extending ever higher and starting to feature different unit sizes. By 1965, the number of people living in public housing estates had increase to 1 million.

As time passed, the shortcomings of resettlement blocks slowly surfaced. Overcrowding was a problem, with families made up of five adults allocated to units that were just 120 square feet in size. There were also no toilets or washing facilities in the units, and the shared amenities resulted in a poor public hygiene environment. The buildings had been constructed to address an urgent need, but this also meant that their design was far from satisfactory. From 1970s onwards, the government began to redevelop the resettlement blocks in phases. It started with Shek Kip Mei Estate.