Those residents - including new arrivals from the mainland with low income, the children of indigenous residents of New Territories and those who cannot afford expensive rents in the city - find it difficult to get jobs and the areas in which they live risk becoming slums, said Article 45 Concern Group legislator Ronny Tong.

The administration is not looking at the bigger picture even though it set up a poverty commission early this year, Tong said.

He said he asked Financial Secretary Henry Tang, who is also the head of the government's poverty commission, six months ago to define what constituted a poverty line and to use the concept of social exclusion as an indicator of poverty.

``Unfortunately, the financial secretary refused to do it,'' Tong said. ``He said there is no justification to say that social exclusion is an indicator of poverty.''

This has prompted Tong, 55, this month to collaborate with academics from the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Shue Yan College and 10 non-governmental organizations, to organize a study of the relationship between social exclusion, discrimination and poverty.

``It is a basic human right that one should not face any kind of discrimination based on a person's race, social status - and where he or she lives,'' Tong said in an interview with The Standard.

``These people might feel helpless, forgotten and isolated. Gradually, they will develop a mentality where they will say to themselves that it is a situation which they can't break out of.''

Tong said he is worried that in the worst scenario, New Territories North might become ``a slum.''

``If you are isolated in the northern district, you also feel that you are not part of society.''

Asked whether such a situation could lead to social unrest, Tong said: ``I hope not, but it is always possible. The situation in Tin Shui Wai is so bad, I don't think it will take long for people to feel that they can't take it any more if nothing is done to improve the situation.''

Disregarding the possibility of social unrest, Professor Wong Hung of the Chinese University said a prevalent ``no direction, no hope'' mentality among young people in Hong Kong is a serious problem.

Social stability would be undermined if poverty persisted and intensified. ``Hopeless'' groups might turn to crime to earn a living, Wong said.

Echoing Wong's view, Li Ping-wai, a professor at Shue Yan college, said poverty would eventually ignite social unrest if the government continued to ignore it.

Tong said he will raise HK$30,000 for a three-phase study which he hopes to complete in a year. The first phase will look at youth poverty and social exclusion is due for completion in October this year.

The other two phases will address the elderly and women in four poor districts in the New Territories.

The finding will be presented to Legco and the government.

Areas which will be covered in the research are Fanling, Sheung Shui, Tuen Mun and Tin Shui Wai.

``It would be an over-simplification to suggest that poverty is purely a case of a shortage of resources [as the government thinks]... We hope our study will provide a solution on how best to tackle the issue,'' Tong said.

Meanwhile, a 19-year-old resident of Sheung Shui in northwest New Territories said he was sacked because of where he lives. ``The boss asked me to do overtime,'' he said. ``I told him I am living in New Territories north and there is no public transport to go back home after midnight.

``He then fired me,'' said the resident, who did not want to be identified.

A survey conducted by Evangelical Lutheran Church Social Services Department found that there are too few jobs in depressed areas.

It found that each job in the New Territories attracted up to 52 applicants, compared to only two candidates for each position in the city.

Hong Kong's unemployment rate fell to 5.9 percent in April this year, its lowest since November, 2001. But a Lutheran survey last year showed the jobless rate of those under 24 was 17.8 percent, with the northwest New Territories cited as the ``hardest hit.''

Poverty, Tong said, is an issue close to his heart because of his childhood experiences. ``In my generation, most people were poor but there were equal opportunities.

``I was poor but I was able to get into Queen's College, the best school in town and then the University of Hong Kong and Oxford [in the United Kingdom].

``If you look at poor children today, the chances of getting into Queen's College is practically nil because the system now forces you to go to a school in the nearest district.

``So if you live in a poor district, you go to the school there.

``I am not saying the schools there are bad, but in terms of resources and quality, you are confined to a limited choice.''