More integrated Housing Board blocks that mix rental and purchased flats being planned
SINGAPORE – More integrated Housing Board blocks that mix rental and purchased flats are in the pipeline, as they provide the opportunity to enhance inclusiveness within housing estates, said Minister of State for National Development Muhammad Faishal Ibrahim.
Around 1,300 public rental flats now under construction across Singapore will be progressively completed by 2025, said Associate Professor Faishal, who is also Minister of State for Home Affairs, in an interview with The Straits Times.
Some of these will be in four integrated blocks spread across three Build-To-Order (BTO) projects, the latest being McNair Heights in Kallang/Whampoa launched in February this year.
Two integrated blocks are in Costa Grove in Pasir Ris, launched in August last year, while one is in Fernvale Glades in Sengkang, launched in November 2017.
“We’re ramping up the building of rental flats and increasingly, we’re using the interspersed method, where rental flats are mixed with owned flats in an HDB block,” said Prof Faishal.
“It brings the level of interaction to a higher level, but we should take the opportunity to enhance inclusiveness while managing the differences in social demographics of the residents.”
Currently, there are two such integrated blocks in two BTO projects – one in West Plains @ Bukit Batok and another in Marsiling Greenview in Woodlands.
As at last year, there are around 62,000 rental flats. Not all are occupied, but Prof Faishal said there is a need to continue to ramp up supply of public rental flats.
“A home is important, so having a steady stock on hand will help us provide options to those who need them. There’ll be a certain segment of the population, such as low-income seniors, who will need a rental home and we don’t want to deprive them of that.”
Monthly rent starts from $26 for a one-room unit for those earning $800 or less, and goes up to $275 for a two-room flat for those earning between $801 and $1,500.
The three hallmarks of Singapore’s public housing policy are affordability, inclusivity and accessibility, which is uniquely different from some big cities where there is “clear demarcation in the profile of people who live in certain areas”, he added. This is why the Government plans to build rental flats in prime areas such as the future Greater Southern Waterfront.
“We’ll make sure that the facilities we build there can cater to different needs, and people from all walks of life can go to school and the markets together,” he said.
Nonetheless, rental flats are meant to be interim housing for families who may need more time to get their career, family and financial planning sorted out, he said.
The goal is to support as many families as possible to move from rental housing to home ownership in a “realistic and sustainable way”, Prof Faishal said.
About 4,600 families in public rental homes have become home owners of HDB flats over the past five years through various housing schemes and grants.
By 2023, around 1,000 families will be offered help to do the same.
Prof Faishal lived in a two-room rental flat in Marine Terrace, from the time he was seven to the age of 11. His family had moved there from a kampung in Joo Chiat Place in the mid-70s. After four years, his parents bought a three-room HDB flat in Bedok South, where he and his three siblings lived for the next 10 years.
“We were not the richest, but my parents always invited people to come over for meals. They worked hard to climb the ladder of home ownership to bring better lives to their children,” he said.
“I recognise that today’s landscape of how and why people live in rental flats may be different from my situation in the past, but I hope many more can experience the journey to achieving home ownership like my parents did.”
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