Taking Stock of Singapore’s Public Housing Renewal

Abstract

A few years ago, some homebuyers in Singapore were willing to fork out higher than average sums for public housing flats, often on the assumption that such flats would come under the Selective En bloc Redevelopment Scheme (SERS), a renewal programme for older flats. As flats built in earlier decades aged, this raised the issue of decaying 99-year leases and renewal of the public housing stock. Given that success of the public housing programme in Singapore, the case study examines the role of SERS within the public housing sector. Who should have a say in the redevelopment of public housing? What were the issues and challenges with SERS, and how might these inform the policy design and implementation of a new Voluntary Early Redevelopment Scheme (VERS) announced in August 2018?