Needy rental flat applicants to be prioritised

A five-room apartment worth $325,000 was sold by a retiree to purchase a four-room flat, though he opted to join a rental housing queue. Meanwhile, an elderly couple residing in a private property together with their child did the same as well.

Mah Bow Tan, Minister for National Development, narrated these anecdotes last Friday in the Parliament, whilst stating rental housing’s tighter eligibility criteria, which should be allocated for those who really need it.

According to Mr. Mah, few applicants didn’t seem to be as needy as they say, though they had lined up in the queues, as they are qualified under the eligibility criteria. Those applicants were all retirees, who had declared zero income.

The Members of Parliament considered the tighter rules as welcome news. Ms. Ho Geok Choo of the West Coast GRC mentioned that the rental flats’ queue had escalated from two to three months way back in 2006, and stepped up to nine to 18 months over the previous year.

The Housing Development Board (HDB) will be checking on assets and income, counting previous sales proceeds, so as to avoid further exploitation of the system, as well as to the current criteria.

This time, application is impossible for previous private property owners, second-time homeowners who have sold the subsidised flats they own and are capable of affording another, as well as buyers who have children owning spare rooms or a private property.

Mister Mah, however, stated that putting up more rental flats isn’t the answer to the problem as the strong demand was supplied by those who are living on subsidised flats.

“Many of these applicants have high sales proceeds, most did not sell their flat due to arrears or divorce,” said Mr. Mah.

By 2012, stock of rental flats is set to boost from 42,000 to 50,000.