This is Home, truly? A Study of Housing in Singapore through the Homeless

Abstract

Singapore is often cited as a successful example of affordable housing production, with 82 per cent of Singaporeans living in 1,057,396 Housing Development Board (HDB) flats across the island and over 90 per cent of these households owning their flats (Hassan, 1977; Yuen, 2007; HDB, 2014a; HDB, 2014b). Many studies have written about this successful public housing programme led by the HDB, analysing the various policies and ideologies behind the HDB and homeownership in Singapore. However, a small, relatively unheard minority have fallen through the cracks, and are homeless despite the State’s largely successful and comprehensive public housing programme. Moving away from studying housing in Singapore through state and policy centric terms that have enabled most Singaporeans to secure housing, this paper will conduct a study of housing in Singapore through the homeless who are currently living in transitional shelters. It will examine public housing in Singapore through the experiences of the homeless, who are disenfranchised urban individuals who have neither benefited from the State’s comprehensive public housing programme, nor have a place to call home. This study will examine the causes of homelessness, the lived experiences of the homeless and their coping mechanisms.