Demand for subsidised HDB
rental flats surges
Rise fuelled mainly by soaring open market rents has doubled
waiting time for those in queue
Straits Times, The
(Singapore)
Prime News, Pg 3
November 30, 2007
Author: Tan Hui Yee, Housing Correspondent
SOARING rents in the open market are forcing more people to opt for
subsidised HDB rental flats, but the extra numbers have doubled the
waiting period.
Eligible low-income households now must wait five to 11 months to
move into a rental HDB flat, compared with two to six months a year
ago.
The pressure had been mounting for some time: In the financial year
that ended in March, HDBs stock of oneand two-room rental flats
dropped slightly, but it had to deal with an 11 per cent increase
in applications.
Most of the 3,000 or so applicants in the queue now are unlikely to
get a home until the first quarter of next year, when the first
batch of recentlyrefurbished flats comes on stream.
Members of Parliament, who have noticed the longer wait among their
needy residents, have cited another factor: People who were unable
to sell their flats during the property downturn are now offloading
their flats to repay debts but find themselves priced out of the
hot market.
An MP for Aljunied GRC, Madam Cynthia Phua, said: The alternative
is to rent a flat on the open market, but that is increasingly very
expensive.
Rents for HDB flats have shot up in the past year, in some cases by
more than 30 per cent.
Families who have recently sold their flats are also caught by a
longstanding HDB rule that requires them to wait 30 months after
selling their flat before being eligible for subsidised rental
homes.
Many turn to their relatives, but Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC MP Charles
Chong said: In cases where they have no relatives, or have
conflict with the rest of their families, some end up sleeping on
Changi Beach, at void decks and so on.
The HDB allocates subsidised rental flats to families earning no
more than $1,500 a month. Depending on their income and whether
they have had a previous housing subsidy, they pay $26 to $205 a
month for a one-room flat, and $44 to $275 for two-room
flats.
These rates are far lower than in the open market, where the median
monthly rental for a two-room flat in Queenstown in the July to
September period was $800.
The squeeze on rental flats is hitting applicants like Ms Jannath,
41, hard. The former cleaner, who has no savings, sold her
four-room flat a few months ago to help pay for her unemployed
husbands medical bills.
The HDB helped her in June by waiving the 30-month waiting
debarment period for a rental flat.
Her family must leave its four-room flat by Dec 5, but the waiting
list for rental flats has meant that she has yet to get one.
Ms Jannath told The Straits Times: They can give me (a flat)
anywhere...I just want a shelter for the three of us.
In March, the HDB was managing about 42,000 one- and two-room
rental flats, with about 95 per cent occupied. More are coming on
stream from next year.
The Board is converting three blocks in Boon Lay and Woodlands into
938 rental units expected to be ready early next year. Next year,
it will also convert two blocks in Redhill to about 290 rental
homes and build 976 units in Choa Chu Kang, Sembawang and
Yishun.
The stock is more limited on the open market, with only about
16,000 rented out.
The HDB said: HDB rental flats are...limited in stock. They are
meant for poor and needy households...Those who can afford to buy
or rent from the open market, as well as those with family support,
should not turn to rental flats...and compete with more needy
families.
[email protected]
Copyright, 2007, Singapore Press Holdings Limited