At the turn of the century, Singapore was growing rapidly, and slums were expanding in the central area of the city. The Singapore Improvement Trust (SIT) was implemented to help house the homeless. However, because the SIT was not given the power to build large scale housing projects, by 1947 homelessness in the central city was still rampant; 72% of the population, about 680,000 people, lived in the city center, and about a third of the population lived in approximately 4 square kilometers. In 1959 the SIT was abolished, having only been able to give housing to 8.8% of Singapore’s population.
In 1960, Singapore established the Housing and Development Board (HDB) tasked with developing affordable government housing in the small, densely populated nation of Singapore. The HDB, which provides most of the housing in Singapore, operates as a private developer supported by public funding. It has extensive powers of land acquisition and urban planning, and it also manages industrial, commercial, recreational and religious land.
A buyer of a flat from the HDB must be a permanent resident or citizen of Singapore. In addition, he or she must be 21 years of age and have a family. Flats range in size from 3-room to “executive mansionette” size, varying widely in cost. This wide variation means that 80-90% of the population, both wealthy and the poor, live in public housing, eliminating the associated social stigma. The wide variation in prices and availability of low price homes in Singapore means that homelessness is rare.
Other Southeast Asian cities willing to implement such government programs could feasibly provide low-cost housing in high density areas, helping to ease the burden of homelessness, slums and shantytowns on cities. Singapore’s HDB is widely viewed as a success.
Sources:
- Housing and Development Board, (2010). HDB InfoWEB. Retrieved from http://www.hdb.gov.sg/
- Augustine, Tan, & Phang, Sock-Yong. (1991). The Singapore experience in public housing. Times Academic Press for the Centre for Advanced Studies.
- Chua Beng-Huat, (1997) Political Legitimacy and Housing - Stakeholding in Singapore
- Lim, William S.W., (1983) ‘Land acquisition for housing with Singapore as a case study’ in Land for Housing the Poor,” Select Books
