Public housing in Singapore may be said to have begun with the formal establishment of the Singapore Improvement Trust (SIT) in 1927 by the colonial government to provide low-cost housing in addition to improvement works. The Housing and Development Board (HDB) replaced the SIT as the national housing authority in 1960 and is now the sole provider of public housing in Singapore.1
History
In 1918, the colonial government set up a housing commission to review the living conditions in the central area of Singapore.2 Following the recommendation of the housing commission to set up an improvement commission, the SIT was conceived in 1924. However, the body was only constituted in 1927 after the Singapore Improvement Ordinance was passed. The objective of the SIT was to “provide for the improvement of the town and island and Singapore”.3 Initially, the SIT was not given the authority to build housing for the general populace, except for those left homeless by its improvement schemes. It was only in 1932 that the SIT was given more powers to undertake building projects to accommodate the rapidly growing population. One of its earliest projects was the Tiong Bahru housing estate, which is regarded as the first public housing estate of Singapore. However, SIT’s building efforts could not meet the needs of the fast-growing population as the housing situation worsened, especially after World War II.4
By the time Singapore attained self-government in 1959, the housing shortage and its related problems, such as overcrowding and squatter colonies, had reached alarming proportions. Public housing for the lower-income groups was thus given top priority, and the HDB was set up in 1960 to replace the SIT.5 Compared to the cramped and unhygienic living conditions in shophouses and squatter areas, flats built by the HDB were spacious and equipped with basic services such as electricity, flush toilets and piped water.6 By March 1976, more than half of the local population were living in HDB flats.7
Besides those built by the HDB, a limited number of public flats were also constructed between 1968 and 1982 by the Jurong Town Corporation (JTC) in the Jurong and Sembawang industrial estates for low-income groups. Between 1974 and 1982, the Housing and Urban Development Company (HUDC), which was set up in 1974, constructed housing for middle-income groups. In 1982, the HDB took over the management of JTC and HUDC flats and thus became the sole provider of public housing in Singapore.8 As of 2021, 78.3 percent of the resident population lived in HDB flats.9
Description
Public housing in Singapore generally comprises high-density, high-rise developments, mostly located in suburban areas.10 The majority of public housing estates are self-contained communities with not only the essential facilities to meet the residents’ basic needs, but also various community amenities such as schools and recreational facilities.11 The larger estates were known as “new towns”. Singapore’s first new town, Queenstown, had been initiated by the SIT in the 1950s but was completed by the HDB. The second new town, Toa Payoh, was the first to be developed entirely by the HDB.12 There are presently more than 20 towns such as Jurong West, Tampines and Woodlands.13
Types of flats
The main categories of public housing include one- to five-room flats, the larger executive flats (including executive apartments and maisonettes) and senior-friendly community care apartments.14 HUDC flats used to be part of public housing but were privatised by March 2017.15
The standard design plans for new flats have been updated over the years to cater to the changing expectations and preferences of home buyers. More flat types have been introduced to cater to the different needs of the population, such as elderly friendly studio apartments, which were introduced in 1997, and multigenerational flats, which were introduced in 2013.16
The emphasis of building programmes has slowly shifted from meeting the population’s basic need for proper shelter to quality of the flats, to the surrounding living environment. This is evidenced by efforts to improve the landscape architecture, enhance the visual identity of housing estates and provide better amenities for the residents. Furthermore, upgrading works are carried out under various estate renewal programmes to prevent physical decay and obsolescence, and to enhance the residents’ living environment.17
Homeownership
Most public flats are sold units, a result of the government’s conscious effort to build a nation of homeowners in the belief that homeownership would give Singaporeans a bigger stake in their country.18 As of 2021, 88.9 percent of public flats were owner-occupied.19 The government encourages ownership of public flats by providing concessionary home loans and housing grants and by allowing Central Provident Fund savings to be used to finance home purchases, subject to some conditions. These incentives are available for purchases of both new and resale flats. In addition, new flats offered directly by the HDB are sold at subsidised prices. However, only those who meet HDB’s eligibility criteria are allowed to buy public flats, including new units sold by private developers (under HDB’s Design, Build and Sell Scheme) and resale flats.20
Social and political objectives
Through the eligibility conditions, public housing has been used to support certain government policies. Before 1991, singles were not allowed to buy HDB flats on their own, in line with the government’s pro-family and pro-marriage stance.21 However, the rule was gradually relaxed, initially giving eligible singles access to three-room or smaller resale flats in certain areas, and later to such flats in any location.22 Under a new HDB framework announced at the 2023 National Day Rally, eligible singles will be able to apply for two-room flexi built-to-order flats in all locations.23
To promote ethnic integration and harmony, the HDB implements its Ethnic Integration Policy by setting a quota for each ethnic group in every HDB block and neighbourhood. The HDB will not approve the sale of a new or resale flat to a particular ethnic group if the sale would result in exceeding the ethnic quota of the block of flat.24
Public housing services have also been linked to support for the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP). This is demonstrated in the PAP’s use of estate upgrading as an incentive to pull in votes during past elections. In July 2009, however, the government announced that the two opposition wards then – Potong Pasir and Hougang – would be included in HDB’s lift upgrading programme earlier than expected, prompting suggestions that PAP was finally depoliticising the national upgrading programme.25
Author
Valerie Chew
References
1. Augustine H.H. Tan and Phang Sock-Yong, The Singapore Experience in Public Housing (Singapore: Times Academic Press, 1991), 11, 13 (Call no. RSING 363.585095957 TAN); Ole Johan Dale, Urban Planning in Singapore: The Transformation of a City (Malaysia: Oxford University Press, 1999), 73 (Call no. RSING 307.1216 DAL); Tai Ching-Ling, Housing Policy and High-rise Living: A Study of Singapore’s Public Housing (Singapore: Chopmen Publishers, 1988), 43. (Call no. RSING 307.336095957 TAI)
2. “Legislative Council,” Straits Times, 15 October 1918, 10; “Municipal Commission,” Straits Times, 1 June 1918, 10. (From NewspaperSG)
3. “Untitled,” Straits Times, 22 May 1920, 8; “The Improvement Trust,” Singapore Free Press and Mercantile Advertiser (1884–1942), 28 June 1927, 8 (From NewspaperSG); Stephen H. K. Yeh, ed., Public Housing in Singapore: A Multi-Disciplinary Study (Singapore: Singapore University Press, 1976), 3. (Call no. RSING 363.5095957 PUB)
4. Yeh, Public Housing in Singapore, 4–5; Tai, Housing Policy and High-rise Living, 43.
5. Yeh, Public Housing in Singapore, 5–6; Tai, Housing Policy and High-rise Living, 43.
6. Yeh, Public Housing in Singapore, 24; Warren Fernandez, Our Homes: 50 Years of Housing a Nation (Singapore: Straits Times Press, 2011), 53. (Call no. RSING 363.585095957 FER)
7. Housing and Development Board, Singapore, Annual Report 1975/76 (Singapore: Housing and Development Board, 1976), n.p. (Call no. RCLOS 711.4095957 SIN-[AR])
8. Tan and Phang, Singapore Experience in Public Housing, 13; Salma Khalik, “Middle Income Housing Now Under HDB,” Business Times, 2 March 1982, 1. (From NewspaperSG)
9. “Households,” Department of Statistics Singapore, archived 20 November 2022. (From NLB’s Web Archive Singapore)
10. Aline K. Wong and Stephen H.K. Yeh, eds., Housing a Nation: 25 Years of Public Housing in Singapore (Singapore: Maruzen Asia, 1985), 8–10. (Call no. RSING 363.5095957 HOU)
11. Chua Beng Huat, Public Housing Policies Compared: US, Socialist Countries and Singapore (Singapore: Department of Sociology, National University of Singapore, 1988), 24. (Call no. RSING 363.58 CHU)
12. Wong and Yeh, Housing a Nation, 92–93.
13. “HDB Towns, Your Home,” Housing and Development Board, archived 14 November 2022. (From NLB’s Web Archive Singapore)
14. “HDB: Types of Flats,” Housing and Development Board, archived 14 July 2022. (From NLB’s Web Archive Singapore)
15. Ng Jun Sen, “HUDC Era Ends as Last Estate Goes Private,” Straits Times, 18 March 2017, accessed 23 August 2023, A3. (From NewspaperSG)
16. Wong and Yeh, Housing a Nation, 57, 65; Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts, “Studio Apartments for Elderly Lessees of HDB Flats,” press release, 5 November 1997. (From National Archives of Singapore document no. 1997110501)
17. Wong and Yeh, Housing a Nation, 59–61, 65, 96; Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts, “Studio Apartments for Elderly Lessees of HDB Flats”; Centre for Liveable Cities and Housing Development Board, Housing: Turning Squatters into Stakeholders (Singapore: Cengage Learning Asia Pte Ltd, 2013),19 (Call no. RSING 363.585095957 HOU); “Measures to Further Stabilise the HDB Resale Market,” Housing and Development Board, archived 14 July 2022. (From NLB’s Web Archive Singapore)
18. “Building Homes – Shaping Communities,” Ministry of National Development, archived 3 September 2012, 25–28 (From NLB’s Web Archive Singapore); Michael R. Glass and Anna E. Salvador, “Remaking Singapore's Heartland: Sustaining Public Housing through Home and Neighbourhood Upgrade Programmes,” International Journal of Housing Policy 18, no. 3 (2018), 479–90 (From Ebscohost via via NLB’s eResources website); Dale, Urban Planning in Singapore, 93.
19. Department of Statistics Singapore, “Households.”
20. Ministry of National Development, “Building Homes – Shaping Communities,” 25–28; Housing and Development Board, Singapore, Annual Report 2007/2008, 5.
21. Fernandez, Our Homes, 196–97, 199; “Public Housing – A Singapore Icon,” Housing and Development Board, archived 14 November 2022 (From NLB’s Web Archive Singapore); “Residential: Flat and Grant Eligibility,” Housing and Development Board, archived 14 November 2022. (From NLB’s Web Archive Singapore)
22. Elaine Koh, “Singles Above 35 May Buy HDB Flats on Their Own,” Business Times, 18 October 1991, 2 (From NewspaperSG); Phang Sock-Yong, “The Singapore Model of Housing and the Welfare State,” in Housing and the New Welfare State: Perspectives From East Asia and Europe, ed. Alan Murie and C. J. Watson (Abingdon, UK: Routledge, 2007), 23, 34; Wong and Yeh, Housing a Nation, 252; “Housing and Development Board, Home Truly: Building Dreams, Housing Hopes, (Singapore: World Scientific Publishing C. Pte Ltd, 2020), 136–37. (Call no. RSING 363.585095957 HOM)
23. Lee Hsien Loong, “A Better Home, a Brighter Future,” National Day Rally 2023 speech, 20 August 2023, https://www.pmo.gov.sg/Newsroom/National-Day-Rally-2023.
24. “Ethnic Integration Policy Is Implemented,” HistorySG, published 2014; Centre for Liveable Cities and Housing Development Board, Housing: Turning Squatters into Stakeholders (Singapore: Cengage Learning Asia Pte Ltd, 2013), 23–25. (Call no. RSING 363.585095957 HOU)
25. Kor Kian Beng, Aaron Low and Cai Haoxiang, “Lift Upgrading No More a Dangled Carrot?” Straits Times, 18 July 2009, 35 (From NewspaperSG); Dale, Urban Planning in Singapore, 95.
Further resources
Ooi Giok Ling, Future of Space: Planning, Space and the City (Singapore: Eastern University Press, 2004). (Call no. RSING 307.1216095957 OOI)
“Singapore Improvement,” Straits Times, 11 August 1925, 11. (From NewspaperSG)
“The Town Planner Departs,” Malayan Saturday Post, 10 May 1924, 10. (From NewspaperSG)
Ho Kim Hin David, Housing the Nation: A Singapore Policy Story (Singapore: Partridge Publishing, 2021). (Call no. RSING 363.58509595 HO)
The information in this article is valid as of August 2023 and correct as far as we are able to ascertain from our sources. It is not intended to be an exhaustive or complete history of the subject. Please contact the Library for further reading materials on the topic.
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