The Big Read: Amid societal changes, how will the link between family formation and housing policies evolve?
A reflection of new HDB flats under construction in Yishun, on Mar 10, 2021. For single Singaporeans, the road to securing a roof over their heads has been more challenging than some others.
Then there is Mr Fadhil Azmi, who was renting for 10 years before he finally bought his own HDB flat in 2019 when he reached the minimum eligible age of 35 years old. That’s because for the longest time, a Singaporean’s marital status is a key factor in determining whether he or she is eligible for public housing.
Singles, on the other hand, can buy an HDB flat only when they turn 35, and are limited to only smaller units in newer estates when they buy flats that are built and sold at subsidised rates by the Government. This latest change comes amid anecdotal evidence that some co-tenants could not get along with each other and ended up in an acrimonious living environment.
“At the end of the day, if your objective is just to give birth and have babies, perhaps then we don’t fit in the country. Is that what you are trying to say? What kind of message are you sending to people who don’t conform to that?” said Mr Abhishek. Mr Fadhil Azmi was renting for 10 years before he finally bought his own HDB flat in 2019 when he reached the minimum eligible age of 35 years old. — Photo b Ili Nadhirah Mansor for TODAYCalls for the Government to relax public housing eligibility requirements for singles are not new.
Then-Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong, who had just taken over the helm from founding Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew a year earlier, announced the new scheme during the 1991 National Day Rally. When Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong took over the reins from Mr Goh in 2004, he announced that singles could buy four-room and five-room HDB resale flats at any location.
“The national agenda has always been they will promote home ownership in line with the family ideology that supports our nation-building,” she said. A scale model of an HDB development in Punggol seen at HDB Hub on March 10, 2021. The development will include two-room flats for singles. — Photo by Raj Nadarajan for TODAYspoke to feel that this balancing act is tilted too far in favour of those with growing and intact families.After moving out of her matrimonial home in 2015 and filing for divorce after her then-husband abused her, she obtained a court order requiring him, who still lives in the flat, to sell it.
“For many months, I called HDB and begged I feel that anybody who is family, regardless whether you are an unwed mum, single mum or divorcee or whatever, should be entitled to a flat and to have a proper roof over their head,” said the 51-year-old trainer in self-development. This is because a lot of these women, while going through the divorce process, end up leaving their matrimonial home and they face a lot of difficulties in planning their next step for themselves and their children due to the uncertainty.
The hurdles single and divorced parents face in securing a flat have also led to some criticism that the housing policies have been designed to favour a very narrow idea of what constitutes a nucleus family. “I’m a taxpayer and a Singaporean But just because I don’t fit the exact mould you would like me to, that doesn’t make me any less of a Singaporean, and therefore I should not be treated less than any of my Singaporean counterparts,” he added.
“A lot are getting married later now, a lot would like to move out of their parents’ house but the current 35-year-old age limit might restrict that. It’s time to review that,” Mr Ng told TODAY.
Associate Professor Sing Tien Foo, Director of the Institute of Real Estate Studies at NUS, pointed out that there won’t be an issue meeting everyone’s demands if there are unlimited resources. However, the very real resource constraints mean that the Government has to prioritise who to allocate them to.
“Is facing any housing shortage of their own, meaning they really have no place to live? If there is no housing problem, then why fix something that is not broken?” he said. To ensure that the market is not distorted, she suggested three criteria that could accompany this lowering of age eligibility: There must be enough supply of HDB resale flats; singles are only restricted to buying smaller three-room flats; and they have extenuating circumstances, such as not having a place to stay.
Safeguards would have to be put in place to prevent any abuse, he said, such as imposing income ceilings on resale flats, just like for BTOs. These rental studios would be cheaper than those in the private rental market and come with a short lease of a maximum of five years. Assoc Prof Tan believes that families with children, whether from single unwed parents or divorced parents, should be prioritised.
“Why can’t we use whatever we have? What I do know is that there are flats that are empty at any one time. Those can be used for this kind of purposes,” he said. “It’s very difficult to measure properly, difficult to draw the line on who you should help if you have resources,” he said. Meeting the public housing needs of every Singaporean has been a mammoth task from the start, and it is likely to become more complicated in the future.
“The nucleus family is passe. Whether you like it or not, more and more people would not have the traditional idea of marriage and having kids,” he said.
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