Debated in Parliament on 13 Sep 2021.
Mr Xie Yao Quan asked the Minister for National Development with regard to the increase in supply of 800 rental flats under the Parenthood Provisional Housing Scheme (PPHS) (a) what is the projected timeline for the release of supply beyond the fourth quarter of 2021; (b) whether this additional supply will be withdrawn in the medium term after clearing the key collections backlog due to COVID-19 delays; and (c) whether the Ministry will consider tapping into private housing stock to increase near-term supply and meet young couples’ demand for PPHS flats.
The Parenthood Provisional Housing Scheme (PPHS) provides an additional temporary housing option for eligible first-timer households awaiting the completion of their new flats. The supply of PPHS is limited as it depends on the availability of vacant flats, typically vacated flats under the Selective En-bloc Redevelopment Scheme (SERS).
Most flat buyers continue to stay with family members or relatives, or rent on the open market, while awaiting the delivery of their BTO flats. However, the demand for PPHS flats has increased in the last year due to delays in the completion of BTO flats, more people working from home and more competition for open market rental. At the same time, the supply of PPHS flats has tightened as delays in BTO completion have stalled the return of PPHS flats to HDB and the shortage of workers has slowed down sprucing-up works for the PPHS flats before they can be rented out to new tenants.
HDB currently has a stock of 840 PPHS flats and will be adding another 800 flats, starting from this year, and over the next two years. Of these, about 200 will be ready and progressively released for application by end-2021. Another 500 will be ready in 2022 and the remaining 100 by mid-2023. While HDB strives to maintain a steady supply of PPHS flats, the supply of PPHS flats is limited and opportunistic, as it is mainly drawn from interim sources of supply and the flats may be withdrawn if they are needed for redevelopment.
To boost PPHS supply in the nearterm, we have explored other supply sources, such as vacant staff apartments at various Polytechnics. The Member asked about tapping into private housing stock. We are continuing to study other possible short-term options to augment PPHS supply, but note that at present the private housing stock is equally tight. To optimise our limited PPHS supply, we have therefore also recently finetuned the PPHS eligibility conditions and allocation process to give priority to families in greater need of temporary housing.
PAPERCUTS