Shortage of dorms, rising
rents raise concerns
Mr Yeo fears employers may be forced to house workers in
HDB flats.
IF RENT prices in dormitories continue to rise, employers may be
forced to house more foreign workers in Housing Board flats.
That is the worry of MP Yeo Guat Kwang, who is also
chairman of migrant help group Migrant Workers' Centre.
Monthly rent at purpose-built dormitories has gone
up significantly in recent years because of a shortage of bed
spaces, he said.
All the 39 purpose-built dorms are full.
In 2005, workers each paid about $95 a month to
rent a bed space in these dorms. But the price has gone up to
between $280 and $300 now.
In contrast, rent prices at HDB flats are
relatively cheaper: It costs a worker about $200 every month to
live in a flat.
"My concern is that if we do not have enough
accommodation for these workers, they may actually move on to
thinking of HDB rental as an alternative... This may cause
inconvenience to some residents," said Mr Yeo.
He was speaking to reporters yesterday at the
launch of the Dormitory Association of Singapore Limited (DASL),
which has been set up to raise standards in the dorm industry.
There are 723,000 foreign workers in Singapore.
An estimated 150,000 live in purpose-built dorms
and another 100,000 in rented HDB flats. Some 50,000 live in
factory-converted dorms while the rest live in construction site
quarters, temporary housing such as shipping containers, and
residential premises such as shophouses and landed homes.
DASL president Kelvin Teo said one of the reasons
there is a shortage of dorms is that the Government has released
fewer plots of land in recent years.
"The preference is to locate the dorms in more
remote places, but even these places are used to build HDB flats
now," said Mr Teo.
In recent years, HDB residents have increasingly
grumbled about foreign workers living in their midst. As a result,
more dorms have been built in remote areas like Mandai and
Tuas.
AMELIA TAN
Top of the news, The Straits Times, Tuesday, December 10 2012,
Pg A6
