A STUDY ON THE LOCATIONAL DISTRIBUTION OF FOREIGN EMPLOYEE DORMITORIES AND THEIR IMPACTS

Abstract

Singapore has the second highest international immigrants in South-Eastern Asia. These international immigrants are equivalent to almost 50% of our population. As a result, there is the issue of housing the foreign employees in a proper and safe place while catering to the needs of the local population. As such, some Singaporeans have started to express Not-In-My-Backyard sentiments when foreign employee dormitories were slated to be built near the residential estates. Hence, this paper aims to study the locational attributes of current foreign employee dormitories and look at the social and economic impacts of these foreign employee dormitories. The research was done through a series of studies. Firstly, a map study was done to look at the locations of current foreign employee dormitories and a site survey was further conducted on four selected dormitories to look at these the relationship of these dormitories to its nearby land uses. The second study measures the impacts of these selected foreign employee dormitories on the real estates. The final study involves conducting a survey on the residents living near the four selected foreign employee dormitories to analyse the social impacts of these foreign employee dormitories. The findings from the second and third studies point towards negative social and economic impacts of the foreign employees. The map study also reveals that there is no proper land zoning for the foreign employee dormitories. The study will suggest the proper locations for future foreign employee dormitories based on these results.