Lessons Drawn from Strong Demand for SG Youth Plan Co-living Pilot

Mr Alex Yam asked the Minister for Culture, Community and Youth (a) what lessons has the Ministry drawn from the strong demand for the SG Youth Plan co-living pilot, including whether this reflects a broader desire among young Singaporeans for earlier independent living; and (b) how will the findings from the pilot inform future youth policies.

Mr Speaker, this response to Mr Alex Yam will also address a related question filed by Dr Choo Pei Ling's for written reply for a Sitting on or after 9 September 2026. [Please refer to "Expansion Plans for SG Youth Plan Co-Living Pilot Given Excess Demand over Available Units", Official Report, 9 September 2026, Vol 96, Issue 36, Written Answers to Questions section.]

In line with what youths have been telling us, the initiative has drawn interest with a good number of youths registering for the 100 units available. The most commonly cited reasons were consistent with feedback from our earlier engagements, which is to have more personal space and to experience independent living.

We are still in the very early stages and will continue to monitor eventual take-up and glean further lessons on youths' needs, preferences and considerations for flexible accommodation options.

Mr Yam.

I thank the Senior Parliamentary Secretary. We acknowledge that the take-up has been quite strong. I know it is early days yet, but more broadly, much of our housing policy in Singapore has traditionally been linked to marriage and family formation. If the co-living pilot takes off and reflects a genuine desire for independent living before marriage, how should the Ministry respond to those aspirations while continuing to support pathways to marriage and family formation?

I thank the Member for his question. Just wanted to emphasise again that this is still an indication of interest. Subsequent to the indication of interest, it will still require them to follow through in terms of getting information, screening, so on and so forth until they sign the contract, so we will update our numbers in due course.

I want to also mention that the initiative complements rather than replaces our public housing system. Home ownership remains a key tenet of our social compact and our youths still continue to aspire to own their own Housing and Development Board flats. The Government will continue to do so and support these ambitions, but at the same time is also exploring a wider range of flexible accommodation options to compliment the broader housing landscape and to meet different needs at different stages of life. So, this will be an ongoing process.