HOME to Madam Masnah Hassim, 28, is a one-room rental flat off Ganges Avenue.
She has slept on the floor in such small flats all her life, because there was never any room for a bed.
Later this year, she will move with her bus-driver husband, Mr Abdul Salim Malukumian, 32, into a flat they can call their own - one with a master bedroom and a proper bed.
The couple are among the more than 900 low-income households which have so far been given additional housing grants this year to help them buy their first homes.
Households earning $3,000 or less every month are eligible for these grants of between $5,000 and $20,000.
The Housing Board has also helped these families by resuming the building of two- and three-room flats, and giving these families priority to buy some of these flats if they have been living in their rental units for two years or more.
All in, the HDB has about 40,000 occupied rental flats on its register.
Mr Abdul Salim brings home between $1,000 and $1,500 a month as the sole breadwinner. Madam Masnah does not work - she has to look after two nephews.
She told The Straits Times in an interview: 'I've dreamt of having my own room, so that I can have some privacy with my husband.'
That room is about to become a reality. The couple got a $20,000 grant last month which, together with the regular housing grant from the Government and their Central Provident Fund (CPF) savings, has put a $165,000 three-room resale flat in Telok Blangah within reach - without any cash upfront too.
Her husband's CPF contributions will cover the $200 monthly mortgage.
She said: 'I can't wait to move in, and to do renovations. You can't do much in rental flats.'
The HDB, which released its annual report yesterday, said about three-quarters of the 900 low-income households who received the additional grants at the end of last month opted for resale flats. The remainder bought flats directly from the HDB.
And about 85 per cent of these 900 went for three- and four-room flats.
Meanwhile, the two- and three-room flats launched in Sengkang in July have pulled in 31 applications from rental-unit tenants under the priority scheme, the HDB said.
At the briefing this week, the HDB was also asked whether it was looking into the illegal practice of buyers and sellers of resale flats colluding to under-declare the sale prices so the sellers need not return all sales proceeds into their CPF.
HDB chief executive Tay Kim Poh said he did not think this practice was widespread on the resale market because of the system's safeguards and the risk of being fined and jailed for giving false information to the HDB.
tanhy@sph.com.sg
