Extension of Rental Flats for Applicants under Parenthood Provisional Housing Scheme to Those who Have Not Been Successful in Booking a Flat

Ms Hazel Poa asked the Minister for National Development whether the Parenthood Provisional Housing Scheme which offers rental flats to those waiting for their HDB BTO flats to be completed can be extended to those who have applied for HDB BTO flats but are yet to be successful in booking a flat.

We have ramped up our supply of Build-To-Order (BTO) flats and are prepared to launch up to 100,000 flats from 2021 to 2025, if needed. The bulk of our BTO flat supply has been set aside for first-timer families, and virtually all first-timer families get a chance to select a flat within three tries, if they apply for one in non-mature estates. At the recent November 2022 BTO sales exercise, there were 3-room, 4-room and 5-room flats in both mature and non-mature estates, where the application rates were 1.7 or lower, and applicants to these six projects stand a good chance of being successful in securing their BTO flats.

The intent of the Parenthood Provisional Housing Scheme (PPHS) is to provide an additional temporary housing option for families waiting for their new flats to be ready. BTO flat applicants who have not booked a flat are a varied group. They have a variety of existing housing arrangements, and some do not apply continuously at BTO sales exercises. Given the limited PPHS flat supply, we will prioritise families who have booked BTO flats, in line with the objective of the PPHS. We, therefore, have no plans to expand the scheme to those who have not booked a new flat.