Debated in Parliament on 5 Feb 2025.
Mr Gerald Giam Yean Song asked the Minister for National Development (a) in each year of the past three years, how many applications for interim housing have been received from elderly residents or couples without children awaiting HDB BTO flats; (b) what percentage of such applications are approved; and (c) whether the Ministry has plans to introduce more subsidised rental options to support groups who do not qualify for the Parenthood Provisional Housing Scheme or the Public Rental Scheme.
The Parenthood Provisional Housing Scheme (PPHS) is the Housing and Development Board's (HDB's) primary scheme for providing subsidised rental housing to families awaiting the completion of their HDB flats. PPHS is targeted at families with less income at their disposal to rent on the open market. Elderly families who fulfil the PPHS eligibility criteria may also benefit from the scheme.
HDB has increased the supply of PPHS flats from 800 in 2021 to over 2,000 currently. As a result, all first-timer married couples with children have been successful in the PPHS ballot since June 2023. In addition, about 30% of couples without children, or 370 households, were successful in 2024. This is a significant improvement from about 10%, or 90 households, in 2022. HDB will further increase the PPHS supply to 4,000 units this year. Before this additional supply comes on stream, we have introduced the PPHS (Open Market) voucher as a temporary measure to support households renting an HDB flat or bedroom on the open market.
On a case-by-case basis, HDB may also offer interim rental housing to lower-income households who have no other temporary housing options. This includes households that are ineligible for a PPHS flat. As interim rental housing is not open for public application, HDB does not track the number of requests made. In the past three years, HDB assisted 59 couples without children and 107 elderly households with interim rental housing.
Given the limited supply of subsidised rental flats, we seek Singaporeans' understanding that we are unable to allocate one to every household awaiting the completion of their HDB flat. Instead, HDB has substantially increased its offering of Shorter Waiting Time (SWT) flats with waiting times of less than three years, so that more home buyers can move into their new flats sooner. Of the 19,600 Build-to-Order flats slated for launch in 2025, almost one-fifth will be SWT flats. HDB will continue to roll out more SWT flats where possible.
PAPERCUTS