Housing and Development Board

From Free net encyclopedia

Image:Logo-hdb.gif The Housing and Development Board (HDB) is a statutory board of the Ministry of National Development is responsible for Singapore's public housing programme. It is generally credited with clearing up the squatters and slums of the 1960s and resettling residents into low-cost government-built housing. Image:Sg woodlands a7 01.jpg

1 History
2 Eligibility and price
3 New flats & Upgrading programmes
4 Headquarters
5 HDB Towns
6 HDB Estates
7 HDB precincts
8 External links

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History

Shortly after independence, Singapore faced a serious problem of housing shortages. In response, the government passed the Housing and Development Act of 1960 which replaced the existing Singapore Improvement Trust with the Housing and Development Board.

Led by Lim Kim San, its first priority during formation was to build as many low-cost housing units as possible, and the Five-Year Plan was introduced. The housing that was initially built was mostly meant for rental by the low income group. The Home Ownership Scheme was also introduced to help this group of people to buy instead of rent their flats. Later, the people were allowed to use their Central Provident Fund money for downpayment. These efforts were however not successful enough then in convincing the people living in the squatter settlements to move into these flats. It was only later, after the Bukit Ho Swee Fire, that HDB's efficiency and earnestness won the people over.

Image:Singapore HDB 001.jpg

54,430 housing units were built between 1960 and 1965 by the HDB. Due to land constraints, high-rise and high-density flats were chosen.

The policies of the HDB were largely in line of the manifesto set out by the Singapore government; the government was promoting social cohesion and patriotism within the country. In 1968, citizens were allowed to use their pension fund (Central Provident Fund) to purchase and own the homes they were renting to give them a stake of the country and as an incentive to work hard. In 1980, a quota was introduced to ensure that no particular racial group concentrated together to prevent sectarianism. To prevent social stratification that may lead to social conflict, the housing of different income groups are mixed together in estates and new towns.

In the 1990s, the HDB concentrated on the upgrading of existing older flats, installing new facilities such as lifts that stop on every floor. Studio apartments were built specially to suit the needs of senior citizens in Singapore's aging society. However, some of these flats were quickly bought up by young working singles.

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Eligibility and price

About 80-90% of Singapore's population are currently living in HDB flats, with high-density housing being a solution to the problem of overcrowding. There are a number of eligibility conditions in order for a flat to be purchased. Buyers must be a Singaporean citizen, and be 21 years of age and have a "proper family nucleus". Other requirements concern household status, time requirements, income and other special requirements (see here for details).

Ownership in public housing is limited to a 99-year lease.

There are several types of public and semi-public housing available, classified on the basis of the number of rooms and size of the flat. Semi-public housing is governed under HUDC instead of HDB and have a much larger floor area. Size is usually denoted by the terms such as four-room, five-room or similar, and is based on the number of rooms in addition to the living room but newer five-room come with only 3-rooms & dinner room. Although newer HDB developed flats in new towns include some condominium facilities.

Most of the residential housing developments in Singapore are publicly built. Thus, public housing in Singapore is not considered a sign of poverty or a lower standard of living; as compared to public housing in other developed countries where land constraint is a non-issue and property pricing is significantly cheaper. Very few people in Singapore live below the poverty line. For example, a HDB 4-room flat depending on age, environment and surrounding amenities can have a sale value of between S$200,000 to above S$300,000 and a HUDC Executive maisonette above S$500,000. However, in contrast a privately developed condominium type housing can cost as much as S$1,000,000 and above. Larger HDB floor size ever build are those two-storey Executive masionette build in the 1990s which can have floor area ranged from 160 - 190 sq m.

**List of average new & resale prices of Housing Development Board flats**
Period	Room Type	Size in sq m (Avg)	Price (in S$) New	Price (in S$) Resale
1970s	3 room	50	$15,000	-
	4 room	75	$20,000	-
	5 room	100	$25,000	-
1980s sharp rise@81	3 room	65	$50,000	-
	4 room	90	$80,000	-
	5 room	115	$110,000	-
	Executive	140	$140,000	-
1990s sharp rise@93 till 97	3 room	70	$120,000	$200,000
	4 room	95	$170,000	$270,000
	5 room	125	$230,000	$350,000
	Executive	145	$280,000	$420,000
2000s ¹	3 room	65	$110,000	$150,000
	4 room	90	$180,000	$230,000
	5 room	110	$240,000	$290,000
	Executive	130	$300,000	$350,000
¹ Average floor sizes was decreased for new flat build around year 2000 but with premium design finishing except 3-rm unit.

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New flats & Upgrading programmes

Buying a new flat through HDB can be done by three different modes, Build To Order, Walk In Selection and Selective En bloc Redevelopment Scheme.

Main Upgrading Programme (MUP), launched in March 1992
Interim Upgrading Programme (IUP), launched in August 1993
Selective En bloc Redevelopment Scheme (SERS), launched in August 1995
Lift Upgrading Programme (LUP), launched 2001

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Headquarters

HDB's headquarters were previously located at Bukit Merah. They were moved to its new premises at the HDB Hub at 480 Lorong 6 Toa Payoh on 10 June 2002 [1].

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