THE CHANGING ROLE OF HDB RENTAL FLATS

Abstract

Most of the people living in Singapore reside in public housing. Being the sole provider of public housing as well as being the housing authority in Singapore, the Housing and Development Board (HDB) has control over public housing and its policies. With the significant promotion of home-ownership, a majority of people own their flats, though there are some who rent them. The rental market can be differentiated into two distinct groups. One is the open rental market where rent levels are subject to free market forces and rental rates are high. The other group is rental housing provided and managed by the HDB where rent levels are notably lower. This latter group of rental housing is the subject of this paper.

Due to the low rents offered, there were barriers to prevent other people beyond the target group from enjoying the cheaper rents. These barriers are realized in the form of rental housing policies, created and refined over the years to include its target audiences. This paper seeks to investigate the relationship between changes in the public housing system and the corresponding changes in tenants of public rental flats.