Comments, opinions and an occasional ramble
No frills housing? Don’t have upgrading lor.
The recent discussions in Parliament had two pretty interesting topics that I’ve been wanting to write about, but I’ve not gotten down to doing so because of the whole JCS debate. The first one is the no-frills HDB flat, which I will address in this entry, and the second is the proclamation that Singaporeans are untalented in procreation, which will be saved for another day.
I don’t quite get why the suggestion of no-frills HDB flats was even brought up in the first place. This suggestion flies directly in the face of what the PAP has been doing for years: upgrading HDB estates to increase their value. Twenty to thirty years ago, HDB flats were indeed almost no-frills until the upgrading frenzy started. If we didn’t have upgrading, there will be plenty of no-frills HDB flats out there on the market.
Besides, HDB has flats available for rent (at hugely subsidised prices) for those who are unable to afford owning their own roof over the head. So, what’s the purpose of having no-frills HDB flats? It doesn’t seem to serve any purpose at all. This is an extremely strange proposition coming from PAP MPs.
It is indeed very interesting to me that some PAP MPs don’t seem to even understand rationale of the policies set by their own political party. Instead of no-frills housing, from a logical standpoint, the government will actually want to INCREASE the frills so that the market value of the HDB goes up. This is because a) the current ruling PAP can use increased values of HDB flats as election propaganda, and b) HDB can pocket more from the sale of a new flat, since the subsidy is pegged to market prices.
I think sometimes, not saying anything is a better option than shooting oneself in the foot. But I must say that this suggestion is a whole lot smarter than suggesting the abolishing of the five day work week because the birthrate has not gone up. 
| Print article | This entry was posted by Aaron Ng on 15/02/2009 at 11:00 am, and is filed under Perspective. Follow any responses to this post through RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site. |
about 1 year ago
Our public housing policy is driven by market pricing rather than the needs of the people. HDB prices its flats at a subsidy to market prices not based on needs and affordability. You can be a couple without children and you can get a bigger flat that a poor family with 2 children simply because you can afford it. The pricing policy (subsidy aside) is similar to what other countries have for private housing.
For a family with 3 children who cannot afford to purchase flats, they are given rental housing – 1 or 2 rooms flats. If you’re laid off, you are allowed only to squeeze your family into a 1-room rental flat no matter what size your family is.
Having lived overseas in 3 different developed countries over an 8 year period. I find our public housing which disregard the needs of the families inadequate and harsh. I heard recently that 1 in 12 people defaulted on their public housing mortgages, that would indicate a failure of the system – it houses people but at the cost of enormous financial strain. Tweaking the system to provide “no-frills” housing is just a small fix to a bad system that is falling apart under the strain of a bad economy.
about 1 year ago
If you observe the trend of public housing from 40 yrs ago till now, my conclusion is that we are regressing. From communal type housing to ECs in a span of 45 yrs. Now we are building more 3 rms and possibly no frills/house brands/slums. I would take it as a barometer of affordability and sustainability of the averge S’porean. Face it, we have peaked and we are not going to hit the kind of growth we saw the last 2 decades. Mkt cycles are getting shorter and more volatile. S’poreans shd get used to the fact that properties are not a sure bet anymore. In current mkt conditions, it is suicidal to take on 20 – 30 yrs laibilities. Live within yr means.
about 1 year ago
You must have been sleeping during your marketing classes.
Obviously we have MPs(and high ranking civil servants) who went thru MBA.
Thru product differentiation, you can avoid cannibalization of existing expensive HDB units (read : Profit) and at the same time build affordable (according to their statistics) units to house the lower middle class at minimal loss (and prevent deranged homesless folks from performing acts of violence or , worse, vote opposition in an election which may come soon). Besides, if the economy recovers, they can always profit from the upgrading projects. WIN-WIN. (Please take note, very important buzzword).
Seriously, u need to learn from the Chua sisters.
about 1 year ago
Some of these no frill apartments are about 600 sqf, I wonder how is anyone going to start a family in such small and confine space.
about 1 year ago
The private houses have fallen by more than 15%, look likes the HDB will start to fall too.
about 1 year ago
The report today show that the prime private houses have fallen by more than 15%, look likes the HDB will start to fall too. However, I think the no frill will still be attractive to people on a shoestring.
about 1 year ago
Dear Sir,
I am Vanessa of Class 5.10 Esther, Anglo-Chinese School (Independent). I am part of the delegation from my school to the National University of Singapore organized Pre-U Seminar and my schoolmates and I would like to interview you based on your views to the Additional Housing Grant implemented by the Housing Development Board. A speedy reply would be greatly appreciated. Thank you very much.
Yours Faithfully,
Vanessa