Debated in Parliament on 10 Sep 2024.
Mr Saktiandi Supaat asked the Minister for National Development (a) in each year of the past five years, what is the number and percentage of unsuccessful applications under the Parenthood Provisional Housing Scheme (PPHS); (b) whether married couples waiting for their Build-to-Order (BTO) flats are accorded priority for a PPHS flat in the same area as their booked BTO flat; and (c) if not, why not.
The Parenthood Provisional Housing Scheme (PPHS) offers a subsidised temporary housing option for families with income of $7,000 and below while they are awaiting completion of their new Housing and Development Board (HDB) flat.
In 2019, 27% or 207 eligible applicants were unsuccessful in their PPHS applications due to flat supply limitations. This increased to about 77% at the peak of COVID-19 in 2020 and 2021. With HDB’s efforts to more than double the PPHS supply from 800 flats in 2021 to 2,000 flats today, the proportion of unsuccessful PPHS applicants has moderated to 62% in 2022 and 43% in 2023.
We expect the success rate for PPHS applications to continue improving as HDB further doubles PPHS supply to 4,000 flats by 2025. In the meantime, eligible families can also tap on the PPHS (Open Market) Voucher scheme to defray the cost of renting in the open market.
HDB does not accord families priority to choose a PPHS flat in the same area as their booked Build-To-Order (BTO) flat. Not all BTO flats have PPHS flats nearby. Prioritising by proximity to the booked BTO flat will unfairly disadvantage those whose booked BTO flats do not have PPHS flats in the vicinity.
Instead, we accord priority to married couples with at least one child aged 18 and below, as these families have greater need for temporary housing. In the last eight PPHS application exercises, all such families who applied were invited to select a flat.
PAPERCUTS