Support for Foreign Healthcare Workers Facing Difficulties in Finding Affordable Housing in Current High-rent Market

Dr Lim Wee Kiak asked the Minister for Health (a) in the context of the current high-rate rental market, whether the Ministry offers any assistance or support to foreign healthcare workers who encounter difficulties in finding affordable housing options in the open market; and (b) beyond studying the feasibility of facilitating hostel-type accommodation to support new foreign healthcare workers to settle in, whether the Ministry has explored the possibility of providing long-term accommodation as part of the package to attract them to work in Singapore.

The public healthcare clusters provide a housing allowance for foreign healthcare staff to help defray their accommodation expenses. Private healthcare employers also do something similar.

The Ministry of Health (MOH) and MOH Holdings are setting-up hostel-like accommodation to provide greater certainty and ease the transition and onboarding of new foreign healthcare staff employed by the public healthcare clusters into Singapore.

We will continue to monitor the needs of our healthcare workers, including whether long-term accommodation is needed.