Debated in Parliament on 4 Feb 2025.
Mr Darryl David asked the Minister for Home Affairs (a) for each year in the past five years, how many fires in HDB flats are a result of excessive hoarding; (b) whether this number been increasing over the past five years; and (c) whether there are plans to enhance the existing inter-agency efforts between SCDF and HDB to mitigate fire hazards associated with hoarding in HDB flats.
The incidence of fires involving hoarding has remained low. Between 2020 and 2024, the number of fires in each year that involved hoarding was zero, three, six, nine and five respectively. As a comparison, in each of these five years, there were about 800 to 900 Housing and Development Board (HDB) fires annually.
The Hoarding Management Core Group, led by the Municipal Services Office, coordinates inter-agency efforts to resolve severe hoarding cases. The cases are assessed and prioritised based on whether there is threat to public health and safety. Where there are fire safety, public health or animal welfare risks, the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF), National Environment Agency or National Parks Board will intervene with their regulatory levers. Agencies also work with community partners to engage the hoarders and their families to declutter.
In particular, where there is severe cluttering obstructing emergency egress, HDB coordinates with SCDF to use SCDF's fire safety levers to improve safety within the unit, such as ensuring that there is a passageway for the occupants to leave the unit during an emergency.
The Ministry of National Development, the Ministry of Social and Family Development and other key partners have also recently launched an Alliance for Action called the New Environment Action Team (NEAT). NEAT will bring together Government agencies, social service agencies, community groups and private organisations to identify hoarding cases early and provide more rounded support to hoarders and relief to their neighbours. HDB and SCDF are members of NEAT.
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