The Housing & Development Board (HDB) is looking at imposing a quota on Permanent Residents (PRs) purchasing resale HDB flats. The implementation could be the same as the imposition of racial quotas to avoid an ethnic enclave.
The proposed move was revealed by Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew, who was speaking at a dialogue session on public housing at the International Housing Conference, where questions on aspirations and affordability were also brought up.
HDB has served the market for 50 years and still, issues like how foreigners are perceived to affect flat prices remains.
Over the next five years, the intake of foreigners will be held back but that means Singaporeans need to boost their productivity, said Mr. Lee.
Prof. Tommy Koh, the dialogue moderator, asked if there were still ways to integrate those already in the country, in a much similar way to the Ethnic Integration Policy, which was introduced to HDB estates in 1989 to mix diverse races.
“Could the same approach be adopted towards integrating new Singaporeans? We are not allowing new Singaporeans whether from China, India, Malaysia, or whatever, to congregate in the same tower blocks, which they are already beginning to do,” said Mr. Lee.
“They buy second hand flats and they congregate. So we have a record of how many new citizens living where and we keep their numbers dispersed. It’s a very valuable tool of communal harmony.”
HDB later made clarifications that imposing a quota policy on PRs for resale flats was being considered.
The repeated issue on affordability also came up during the dialogue. One suggestion was to have HDB provide more rental housing units.
“I completely disagree with that policy. It will lead us into all kinds of problems. You are getting a dependency group – dependent on the government on constant subsidies, whereas our philosophy is ‘I give you this asset, I will increase the value of the asset as the economy grows but it is yours and you look after it.’ And we do not have run down public housing like other countries which are rental,” said Mr. Lee.
He was also asked for his comments on a recent media report that at least three opposition parties were eyeing the ward of National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan with the aim of making public housing affordability an election issue.
“What is affordabilty? From the point of view of the buyer? And the government that is subsidizing you? The government has to price it at a level that is fair to the revenue it is collecting and fair to the individual, not only the present buyer but past and future buyers. If Mr. Mah is unable to defend himself, he deserves to lose,” he said.
“No country in the world has given its citizens and families an asset as valuable as what we have given every family here. And if you say that policy is at fault, you must be daft.”