Friday, August 18, 2006
[RealEdge] TodayOnline : Enough people to occupy these flats?
 This story was printed from TODAYonline | |
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| Enough people to occupy these flats? Falling birth rate, ageing population are challenges that can be overcome: Mah Friday August 18, 2006 Tor Ching Li chingli@newstoday. Will Singapore's falling birth rate result in an excess of public housing flats? That was one of the questions put to National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan by international students of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy yesterday, following a speech on public housing. "We have to look at how to encourage more Singaporeans to increase the total fertility rate (TFR) from what we have today, and encourage more people to live and work in Singapore. We welcome people to work here and make this their home," said Mr Mah. Singapore had only 35,600 births last year, putting the TFR at a low of 1.24 well below the replacement level of 2.1, or 60,000 births, each year. However, Mr Mah expressed confidence that Singapore would not face a permanent excess of flats. At the beginning of the year, there were about 9,000 unsold Housing Development Board (HDB) flats, mainly in the industrial Jurong West area. Some are being converted to two-room flats while others are managed for renting out by private real estate companies. Close to 3 per cent of the Government's annual budget or about $900 million was spent on public housing in the last financial year. About 85 per cent of Singaporeans live in the 900,000 public flats built in the past 46 years, stated Mr Mah. Moving forward, Singapore's rapidly ageing population, widening income gap and increasingly diverse population will pose new challenges for public housing policy. "We will need to provide a wide range of housing options to meet the different financial needs and lifestyle preferences of the elderly, from smaller HDB flats such as studio apartments, to private retirement housing with dedicated care facilities," said Mr Mah. The HDB has already embarked on a $5 billion, 10-year plan to install lifts that stop on every floor to prepare for a population that will have one in five Singaporeans aged 65 and above by 2030. With widening income gaps and the need to integrate people from different socio-economic groups, the HDB has resumed the building of smaller flats to provide more affordable housing for the lower-income group. The first batch of new two-room public flats launched in two decades proved immensely popular with more than 250 applications received for the 86 flats in Sengkang. Meanwhile, to accommodate the rising aspirations of the new generation, the HDB has engaged private-sector architects to design and build HDB projects. Mr Mah cited the premium design of Pinnacle@Duxton as a project that will bring many new and younger residents into Chinatown, and rejuvenate a historical part of Singapore. "Our public housing policies will have to evolve, not only to respond to the changing needs of the people, but also to support national strategies," said Mr Mah. | |
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// posted by Shajahan @ 11:14 AM 