By Selene Cheng
6.5 million people. That is the projected number of people our government believes Singapore can accommodate. Already, 80% of the population lives in subsidised housing, and with the development of estates in Sengkang and Punggol, no one will have to be a vagrant. No one will have to sleep under the void deck with aluminium cans for a pillow, or at the beach with the sky as their blanket.
Unfortunately, nothing could be further from the truth. Being homeless in Singapore is a real possibility, as theonlinecitizen (TOC) has found out, and you don’t even need to be old and dirt poor in order to have no roof over your head.
In this special feature on home ownership in Singapore, theonlinecitizen tells the story of Andrew, a 34-year old young man who will soon be out of a home in 3 months because of the Housing and Development Board’s (HDB) lack of compassion and flexibility.
In the beginning
Andrew has a family of four: his father, his mother, (both in their sixties), himself and his sister. His father is a real estate agent. In 1992, the family bought an executive maisonette, taking out a mortgage loan of $464,100.
The family woes started in 1991, when Andrew’s father, the sole breadwinner then, started chalking up less sales. Despite the financial difficulties, his father managed to pay the instalments.
It was not to last for long. In 1996, the property slump severely affected his father’s income. Andrew’s father went into debt, and could not afford the monthly mortgage loan repayments, the utilities and the service and conservancy charges (S & CC).
14 instalment plans and family conflict
Because the family could not afford to pay for the utilities, they worked out instalment plans with Singapore Power (SP). TOC understands that the family has drawn up 14 instalment plans to date since 1999, and the family have kept to the plans with varying degrees of success.
“My father was always a dollar short and a day late,” said Andrew. “He tried driving a taxi, being an agent at a maid agency, but the money was never enough (to cover the bills). So he was always struggling to find a job (that paid enough).”
“For a good 10 years (1996 – 2006), he was out of a (stable) job.”
Because of the family’s inability to make repayments, the family’s electricity and water supply was often cut off. Andrew estimates it has been about 20 times now. The stress of being unable to repay the mortgage loan and the frequent utilities disconnections took a toll on the family. “Our quarrels just seemed to escalate,” said Andrew. “We always argued about why (we have) no money to pay, whose responsibility it is to pay, why my father can’t get a job, etc…”
“There was so much finger pointing”, he said wistfully..
Utilities cut so many times, he knows the routine
Andrew’s electricity and water has been cut off so many times he knows the drill already. According to Andrew, a Singapore Power (SP) representative comes, rings the doorbell, the family opens the door and pleads with the representative not to cut off their utilities. The discussion ends with his father signing a document undertaking to pay the arrears plus late payment penalties etc.
One family member then goes down to the SP office with the signed document to “settle” the matter, and a technician would be sent to reconnect the utilities the same day. Andrew said that the SP office usually asked them to pay in full, but because the family could not, they would “pay something, like anything” and their utilities would be reconnected.
“There were times my entire family survived on my mother’s $600-$800 salary as a part-time worker in Yoshinoya to pay the bills,” said Andrew.
Lack of compassion from SingPower
The most recent incident in January 2008, however, showed SP’s lack of compassion.
The family owed SP $2000+ in utilities, and they had kept to their latest repayment plan of $250 monthly. However, once they missed just 1 month’s payment last year, an SP representative was sent to disconnect the supply in January.
Andrew recounts that that day, the technician had rang the doorbell, but because his father was in the toilet, no one came to the door. The SP rep thus proceeded to disconnect the supply.
Halfway while Andrew’s father was doing his business, the light in the toilet went off. Realising that the electricity had been cut off, Andrew’s father rushed out of the toilet in a panic and pleaded with him, saying that he’d sign whatever was needed, as long as the electricity was reconnected. But Andrew said that this time there was no discussion and no immediate reconnection.
“The man didn’t even want my father to sign anything, he just repeated again and again, ‘I’m sorry sir, I’m just doing my job’, and asked us to go down to the SP office to settle with them,” said Andrew.
“What kind of system has created an employee that fears the system so much that he doesn’t even dare to go beyond what he was told he was supposed to do?”, said Andrew. Upset, he called the SP Customer Service Centre.
“Where’s all the compassion in all this? I’ve been through all this before, I know the procedure,” said Andrew. He explained to the customer service officer that the previous reps had always discussed the issue with them, and had always reconnected their supply. In response, said Andrew, the SP Customer Service Officer “proceeded to give (him) an education on what is supposed to happen” and repeated the procedure that Andrew already knew, reiterating that if nobody answered the door, they have a right to disconnect the power immediately.
“I told them, ‘I know the procedure. But why the previous people who came to disconnect can be compassionate, just sign the paper and they’ll reconnect immediately? Why not this time?”, he asks.
It was evident that the talk with SP was fruitless, for Andrew said that his father was soon served a letter demanding payment by 5 Feb with no exceptions.
Andrew added that the amount was originally in arrears for $2000+, but as of Jan it had been paid down to $700+.
“That shows our effort since we made our first arrangement with SP that we pay, every month,” said Andrew. He said that they always paid the current charges plus a bit more to offset the original debt. The $700+ would have just taken a few more months to pay off.
“But the hammer just comes down on us, and I don’t understand why. I don’t understand that.”
No mercy from HDB either
Andrew’s woes are not confined to SP charges alone. Andrew will soon be homeless as well, because the family cannot afford the S & CC and the mortgage loan repayments, the latter of which have to be paid in cash (no CPF because his father is self-employed).
Andrew explains that since April 1999, they have received financial assistance in the form of deferred payments for their S & CC, or smaller payments of the interest only. Andrew makes it clear that they have only received these concessions due to their constant pleading.
“I estimate my father has gone down to HDB to plead about 10 times already,” said Andrew. “We’ve also pleaded with them through our MP, Mr Wong Kan Seng, at least for 5 years already.” Andrew said that each time HDB sends them a letter demanding payment, his father goes down to the HDB office to pay a little to keep the family from being continually hounded.
Andrew’s father had had a repayment plan of $120 per month for the S & CC charges, but had not been able to pay still. The HDB’s “compassion” finally ran out. In November last year, the family was served a lawyer’s letter demanding they pay their 20 months’ worth of S & CC charges of around $2000. The actual arrears amount to $1600+, while the remaining is a penalty for late payment.
HDB also turned down their appeal to make partial payments of their monthly house loan instalments as they had been given extensions. The original instalments were $2000+ per month, but are now $3000+ (including penalties for late payments). A letter issuing an ultimatum was sent to them, telling them to register their flat for sale by 28 Jan, and sell the house within three months.
When asked why they did not sell the house earlier, Andrew replies that the property market was not good, and if they sold the house, they would have made a massive financial loss and still be in debt to HDB. “My dad’s intention all the while is for the house value to appreciate, so he can cover all debts, be free of this burden of being in debt to HDB,” said Andrew.
He also adds that his father recently had been sent a letter, informing him (father) that he had been barred from applying for a HDB season parking ticket because of the S & CC arrears. The move has made the family worse off financially, said Andrew, as his father needs the car (and therefore season parking ticket to park the car) for his work as a real estate agent.
“Finding a house is tough as hell in Singapore”
The family has no choice but to sell the house. The sale means that Andrew’s father will lose his entire lifetime of CPF savings. But Andrew sees a glimmer of sunshine in the gloom. The property market is good now, and their house has had a good valuation; the money they get from the sale will cover all SP, S & CC, and mortgage loan money they owe.
Andrew’s parents’ eligibility to apply for a new HDB loan is in doubt because of his father’s debt history. Andrew himself, though, is going to get married, and he and his fiancée have the ability to buy a new house. The plan is to have their parents stay with them.
The problem, however, lies in finding a house within the tight deadline of three months. “Finding a house is tough as hell in Singapore,” said Andrew. He said that if they bought a resale flat, they would have to pay a cash top-up of at least $30,000 – $40,000, and on top of that the 10% downpayment for the HDB loan. Andrew said that he and his fiancée have the means to service the HDB loan, but not enough to cough up a $30,000 cash top-up.
Andrew said he has been looking for flats with a cash top-up of $5000-$10,000. Andrew and his fiancée have viewed about 30 units so far since August 2007, but have not managed to find one within their budget.
Immediately he corrects himself – he did find one within their budget. “We saw one house in Sengkang, ground floor unit, 4-room, asking for $5000 cash (top-up) only,” said Andrew. “And we said, ok, we want, but when we called up 2 hours later, after we had viewed the house, the agent said [it had been] sold already. Because after I left, another 4 people (had come), and one person offered $7000, the other offered $10,000, and the last offered $20,000,” said Andrew. “It was like bidding, you know,” said Andrew.
“So the loser is the one who doesn’t have the cash lah.”
Andrew said that he also tried balloting for a flat, but was unsuccessful. He had applied for a flat in both mature and new estates, even unpopular estates, and each time his queue number has been unfavourable. In the recent Sengkang balloting exercise, he said that the 400+ units attracted 5,000 applicants, and his queue number was 2600. A recent balloting exercise for 200 units in mature estates attracted 10,000 applicants, of which he was number 5938.
Andrew said he read on the HDB website that those who had submitted more applications and failed to get a flat would be moved up further the queue. “But nobody knows how many people are in the queue,” said Andrew. “Nobody knows how many have played this game, and (applied repeatedly) just to get ahead in the queue, and each application is $10 you know,” said Andrew.
“I wonder, how many houses are out there in HDB ready to be sold, and how many are actually being released in every batch?”
“Is this a money churning exercise?”
No priority given by HDB for family to buy flat
Andrew is desperate to find a house, “any house”, he says, for if he cannot get a flat within the next 3 months, he and his family will be homeless. Andrew said that he even went down to the Bishan HDB office to find out what he could do. The staff who served him told him that “even as staff (they didn’t) have priority to know what are the units that are not being released”.
“Is there such a system that says that for those who truly need it on a case-by-case basis we give you priority?”, he asked.
“Because I’m going to be homeless!”
Homeless in Singapore?
It is highly likely that Andrew’s case is not an isolated one. For more than 15 years, Andrew has slept through hot nights and used candles for lighting. He is helpless to improve his situation much. He does not have a degree – he is self-employed – his income varies from month to month, and he explains that he would earn even less than what he earns now if he took a regular job.
Andrew’s plight also brings up more disturbing questions. Why do repeated appeals from an esteemed MP to the HDB and SP have seemingly little effect? Why must the HDB – a quasi-government body, no less – and SP, a major utilities provider, be so hard on one down-and-out old man? What is the breakdown of the number of people who have balloted more than once in order to get a higher priority in the queue for flats? Is balloting a money-making exercise after all, despite HDB’s claim that balloting is to give everyone “a fair chance”?
In summary, these are the problems that Andrew and his family face:
1. They must put their flat on the resale market by Jan 28, 2008.
2. Repay $464,100 of mortgage loans
3. Pay the $700 in utilities
4. Pay their Town Council $3000 in S&C charges
And even if they manage to pay off the debts, Andrew and his family may still end up on the street – because he can’t afford a resale flat and the queue for a new flat will take some time.
Yet, despite all that he is going through, he only asks that the HDB considers his circumstances and maybe move him up in the queue for a new flat.
Andrew says that this is an opportunity for his family to finally get out of the cycle of being in debt for so long – if only the HDB would be compassionate about his situation.
There are questions that only the relevant authorities can answer. The clock is ticking, and for those like Andrew who are stuck between a rock and a hard place, their next home may be the void deck. Let us hope that it will not be for lack of compassion from our government that people will sleep outside at night.
Otherwise, thanks to the HDB, a family will be homeless.
NOTE:
Andrew’s friend, Leong Sze Hian, who alerted TOC to the story, says:
How many Singaporeans are there like my friend, Andrew and his family, who may lose their home, and their life CPF savings, because they cannot pay for their HDB flat?
With the apparent “disappearance” of the flats given financial assistance statistics in this year’s HDB Annual Report (this statistic was in past Annual Reports – the previous year’s figure was 28,386), how many can’t pay?
When the HDB makes a demand for a flat owner to sell his or her flat in the open market by a certain deadline, will it disappear from the “financial assistance” statistics?
Will it also disappear from the “flats repossessed by HDB” statistics? (360 flat-owners voluntarily surrendered their flats from 2003 to 2006 – reply to question in Parliament, March 2007).
Read Sze Hian’s earlier article on the disappearing statistics for the number of flat-owners whose applications for financial assistance were approved: Uniquely Singapore, F1 or F9?: Inflation up, HDB property tax up, statistics disappear, Ministers’ pay up again soon.
Read also: “HDB’s mistake but she’s made to pay – 4 years later”.
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Andrew does not have my sympathy based on the article.
What Andrew calls “compassion”, I say he’s taking advantage of SingPower.
It’s not like he will be truly homeless. It looks like he can afford to rent — short term — but the article didn’t mention that possibility.
Moral of the story: don’t over-extend your mortgage. $464K is a huge loan to take for an HDB flat.
I think there are many people in this sort of situation. No wonder the statistics disappear. HDB can solve this problem easy lar. If it was someone with connection, sure HDB will solve it instantly.
LKY say S’pore “Golden Era”. I wonder for who.
You’ll have your electricity cut off in any country if you don’t pay our bills.
Not just Singapore. Are you saying you want FOC electricity ?
Not sure if this is related to the letter published recently in the ST Forum. Initially I tot all 4 children were quite young and the ‘father’ is the sole breadwinner. Now it seems Andrew should have been able to contribute when he was older (since he wasn’t studying), at least for the last decade (when he turned 24?). Why is the family still in so much distress?
What about the other 3 children? How old are they?
They can actually rent out a couple of rooms to cover some expenses isnt it? Only 4 person staying in executive maisonette, which has 4 bedrooms, 3 toilets. In fact, the dinning area can be converted to a room if they want to. But why they didnt think of renting out?
They can down grade but then again it will be a loss,I would suggest to sell the flat and temporary rent a place,wait for the market to cool and when prices are low, buy a 4 room flat.It can be done.
It’s his fault. He shouldn’t have bought a maisonette unless he was sure he could afford it.
This is really ridiculous
1. No country in the world would give free electricity or water.
2. I know lots of real estate agents who is not driving but successful in the biz. When his father can afford to drive a car which is not a necessity in Singapore why cant he repay the utilities
3. Could have downgraded to a 3rm flat and sell the big house. No need to have such a big house for 4 persons.
End of the day it’s their own deeds. Not taking care of proper risk planning or trying to reduce the expenses yet still complain.
Not supportive at all.
In Singapore, it seems great to use CPF money(retirement money) to buy public appartment. I find that not normal as our retirement money shrink with increase of property price. The government should regulate the price of public housing and the amount of CPF money we can use.
Renting needs at least $1,000 or more – which may leave little disaposable income to try to make ends meet
After CPF contribution, the net disposable income (if have to use cash to pay for rental) may not be very much
In what countries in the world do we have this? – According to the Yearbook of Statistics Singapore, the water, electricity and gas tariffs’ price indices have increased from 43.9 to 100, 83.8 to 110.1 and 69.2 to 104.4, respectively, for the period from 1995 to 2005.
The above is an increase of 128, 31 and 51 per cent respectively for water, electricity and gas, for the 10-year period. In annual percentage increase terms, the increase was 8.6, 2.8 and 4.2 per cent per annum.
Against the inflation rate for this period, which I understand was about one per cent, the increase relative to inflation was about 9, 3 and 4 times more than inflation.
Why is it that basic utilities which are essential items of consumption for Singaporeans have been allowed to increase so much over the years? To what extent has this contributed to the high profits of the utilities operators?
They have been renting out a room, but it may be hard to keep a tenant, when utilities get cut every once in a while
Selling the flat to downgrade means no home, loss of life CPF savings, and still owe HDB money, as HDB prices fell by as much as 35% during the property bear market from 1996 to 2005
Must wait 30 months to buy a smaller flat from HDB
Re-sale smaller flat needs substantial cash above valuation
Hi Leong, it is hard to sympathise with their situation when they bought a maisonette with only have 4 person staying in and one sole breadwinner. I cant think of any other reason why they would do that other than wanting to live in comfort or showing off or taking things for granted. I used to stay in 2 room flat before moving to a 4 room flat and they are only 4 of us. My wife used to stay in 1 room flat before her parent bought a 3 room flat. And 5 of them staying inside.
Correct me if I am wrong, SP can actually install a box which actually control how much household can use electricity and water per month. This will allow the owner not to overuse and incur more expenses to SP. Not too sure if they are able or allow to do that or not. Maybe you can find out more regarding this.
Singaporeans were kind of encouraged to keep upgrading with ever rising HDB prices until the downturn from 1996 to 2005
When your income is sufficient to upgrade, many did
Most of the surplus flats (at it’s peak about 16,000), were the larger 5-room and Executive flats
- even if you want a smaller flat, you have to wait much longer
I think the PAYU (Pay As You Use) meter is only offered – I’m not sure if one can request for it
What it does is everytime you put money into it, 20% is used to pay the arrears you owe for electricity
Cheers
They are normally found outside 1 and 2-room flats (I think there are about 12,000+ in Singapore)
After reading, like what others said, it’s hard to even sympathise with their situation. What i see is that they have thoroughly exploited the “kindness” of singpower, hdb , town council etc just because they didn’t want to sell the EC unit. And now they are jumping out to “shoot” them back.
BTW, what are andrew and his sister been doing to help payment? I used to work in pizza hut, KFC during my schooldays just because my parent could not afford my schoolfee.
It’s our own life, learn to manage it properly ourself.
In the past, I understand that the penalty for late payment of Service, & Conservancy Charges (S & CC), was only a few dollars a month. But now, it’s a fixed dollar amount of as much as 8% of the monthly charge, or 2% per month, whichever is higher
When you get a legal letter, you have to pay the legal fee too
And when you get charged in court, you get fined too
So, if you can’t even pay, how to pay the fine?
It’s a vicious cycle for those caught in it
When you owe the Town Council, you are barred from getting season parking – how to be a taxi driver or estate agent, when you cannot park? So, keep getting fined for parking – it’s another vicious cycle
No matter how poor you are, the fact that you live in bigger housing means that you cannot qualify for any kind of financial assistance
The assumption being that you can sell your house and downgrade
But, for people like Andrew’s family, how to downgrade when the sale proceeds was not even enough to pay HDB’s outstanding housing loan – no home, no CPF
The point I’m making is not the specifics of each case, but why there are no regular statistics on how many Singaporeans cannot pay their mortgage, S & CC, utilities, etc
Cheers
When I start reading this article and people start bombarding that Andrew deserves it because he over-commit himself by purchasing a costly property in the first place, I ask myself this very question:
Why the people keep condemning him just because he could no longer afford to pay to pay for his house ? Isn’t everyone want good life for himself and family and invest in property so to sell off at higher price ?
Everyone makes mistake in his life just that when the coffers make mistake, they have the media and deceptive practices to cover their backside and made the public pay for it.
Now let help Andrew resolve his problem rather than just simply condemning him as he is already in a state of helplessness. Gracious is not about telling people of his mistakes but also helping in time of crisis.
I’m afraid Andrew is not alone in this situation and I have seen far more people over-committed themselves over exorbitant house loan and hopefully to sell off at a profit. But what is it so prevalent in Singapore ? Have people wonder why it so ? Who bring this kind of money culture, KiaSee-ness, KiaSu-ness into the society ? Can the government who dictates and controls the so much of public matter provide an answer to it ? I wonder if not the government is so pretentious and people so distrust of government which love changing law to suit their own agenda, I doubt many people will over-commit themselves in pursuit of better quality of life. It is the result of Fear, Doubt and Uncertainty about the future that people willing to risk their current financial well-being for better life.
$450,000 a lot to pay for ? You must be joking if compare by today standard. How about government coming out HDB flat in $700,000 and set for increasing cost of HDB to make profit in the name of free market ? We can laugh and pity Andrew, but we can start laugh and pity ourselves too because those price for maisonette in the past is quickly becoming the price we pay for HDB in no time giving the inflation and escalating cost that our government is so ‘pretentious’ to control.
We will see more people who have the same predicament as Andrew in coming future. No doubt about it.
I agree with Leong that the cost of penalizing and necessities are all going ridiculously high and yet government are surprisingly reticent and nonchalant about it. No wonder, people start migrating in search of a more compassionate and gracious society minus those expensive ‘fake-elite’ coffers. At least we won’t get to listen to “Mee Siam Mai Hum” and “More Good Years” kind of childish nonsense in other countries.
Wow. I’m very shocked by the lack of compassion from all the comments. You guys/gays sure you’re not part of the ‘new media strategy’? I think it’s a good idea to leave the country asap. My goodness.
Leong Sze Hian, don’t try to get sympathy from most fellow Singaporeans. They do not apparently see what you are trying to point out:
• Eveline says: Moral of the story: don’t over-extend your mortgage. $464K is a huge loan to take for an HDB flat. – You answered – “Singaporeans were kind of encouraged to keep upgrading with ever rising HDB prices until the downturn from 1996 to 2005. When your income is sufficient to upgrade, many did” – Wrongly or rightly Singaporeans time again get caught in circumstances such as this. In the past, the government tells you that there is too much babies and everyone should sterilize after the 2nd child or get penalize. Now see what happens, and they are tyring to get people to procreate? or better import future Singaporeans from China and India for the shortfall due to their policy?
• Nicholas says – They can actually rent out a couple of rooms to cover some expenses isnt it? Only 4 person staying in executive maisonette, which has 4 bedrooms, 3 toilets. In fact, the dinning area can be converted to a room if they want to. But why they didnt think of renting out? – You answered: They have been renting out a room, but it may be hard to keep a tenant, when utilities get cut every once in a while – which is precisely the point.
• Pater92 says – It’s his fault. He shouldn’t have bought a maisonette unless he was sure he could afford it. Gar Teoh says – They can down grade but then again it will be a loss, I would suggest to sell the flat and temporary rent a place,wait for the market to cool and when prices are low, buy a 4 room flat. It can be done. – you have answered clearly that “Renting needs at least $1,000 or more – which may leave little disaposable income to try to make ends meet. After CPF contribution, the net disposable income (if have to use cash to pay for rental) may not be very much”. From the article, it is also clear that HDB is NOT helping them to get up the queue, and god knows how long and when they can get the flat. They are downgrading but with the many INFLEXIBLE and new rules imposed by Singapore favorite minster Mah Bow Tan, the highest revenue collector for the PAP government, I doubt he will be anywhere near getting a flat from HDB.
In the past, I understand that the penalty for late payment of Service, & Conservancy Charges (S & CC), was only a few dollars a month. But now, it’s a fixed dollar amount of as much as 8% of the monthly charge, or 2% per month, whichever is higher –
• what do you expect from a government with NO COMPASSION. They fine you OUTRAGEOUSLY, daylight robbery if I need to put a term to it. Even for simple parking fines – if you miss paying, then the penalty goes up and up, and like Leong mentioned, they sent you legal letters, and you have to also pay for this. So it is a vicious cycle for people caught in this.
• This case is not the only example. I believe that there are innumerous cases like this perhaps just not reported as expected from the mainstream media. I have a friend with a similar situation and he is only staying in a 5 room flat in one of the new towns, not even in the urban areas. They have 3 schooling children. After losing his job, he ran into similar difficulties like what has been described with the HDB and the utilities people. How can he downgrade when the sales proceed is not even sufficient to pay the loan? Nonetheless he has proceeded to sell the house, since he has no job yet, the CPF has run out and he cannot afford to pay the more than S$1000 in repayments to the HDB in cash. The best part of this is that to sell the house you have to clear all your utilities’ bills, S & SC bills before you can sell the house (next hurdle for Andrew’s family). They won’t even have the compassion to let you sell the house, collect the monies and then pay for these. So your sale CANNOT go through if these have NOT been settled. And to think that Singpower is privatised? So why is the governement collecting monies for the privatised company. So what happens is that – he has to borrow left and right just so that the house can be sold. What if he cannot find someone to borrow from – who would lend in such circumstances – go to the loan sharks?
the property market has been terribly managed by the government. for the majority singaporeans,their homes are their priciest asset. but alas, because so much money is riding in land usage for the government, and all associated businesses( developers,banks,lawyers,contractors,agents etc),the people’s basic entitlement has been encroached upon as they relentlessly milk more and more money out of our land – through the exploitation of the volatility of the economy.
with every new generation demanding a fresh bite from hdb, can the government continue to deliver?
if they do, resale homes will suffer and that includes new homes turned resale homes too.
so it is a catch 22. build more homes to satisfy pressing demands, we may create an over supply and resale homes suffer. suffer because it’ll be tougher to unload/downgrade as the population ages. on the other hand, building less will mean denying new family new homes – cheap and can turn around for profit later.
that said, the solution won’t be easy. one of the least observed problems which plagued homeownership for the average citizens and its affordability is the divided interest between private and public housing. not to be too long winded, private housing(housing for the rich or milking the rich or simply rich revenues) is part of the cause of rising home prices across the board.
since the quality of hdb homes have improved tremendously, maybe the authorities should stop building private homes anymore( there are probably enough private homes to satisfy demands from FTs and the rich) and not tempt those living in hdb to upgrade. the way i see it, properties valuation and pricing have been managed in such a way as to perpetuate the excesses of the rich which the average worker can ill afford.
so the right thing to do is to continue to build more basic quality homes( some say the standard has risen to private quality even so no need private) for everyone( that seems to be the trend and demand here for the majority) and leave existing(other than those slated for future development, we should stop building more pte homes) private homes for those who can REALLY afford.
if we continue to exploit private homes at the expense of public housing, public home prices will continue to escalate.
i think it is difficult to MIX the two. in effect, we are creating very rich ministers at one end of the spectrum and the very poorly ministered at the other end. this divide, some will argue, is potentially immoral! immoral not because of jealousy, immoral because of irreparable social damages caused.
perhaps, it is time to separate the two( decoupling if you like) and ultimately, support majority interests and slowly let the ‘morning glory’ wither and fade?
Hi Jean and Jennifer,
It’s not that we aren’t compassionate. Personally, I find it hard to understand why with 2-4 (Parents + Andrew + at least 1 more sibling should be of working age) working adults, they cannot pay the fees owned.
Hi Leong, Daniel and Jennifer, I understand Andrew’s situation, especially the point where Leong bought up about upgrading. But I have seen worse situation. HDB decided to stop building 3 room flat in the late 80s(or early 90s?) and force alot of citizens to upgrade and buy 4 room instead of 3 room which is more affordable to some of them. I understand some of them have alot of difficulties paying their installments even up till now. Some of them I know stay at Jurong West area. They too cant sell because property prices isnt that great and they are stuck with it. But luckily at least they can rent out to NTU students and cover some expenses. But still they always have difficulty paying installments as well as S & CC.
Now these people do not really intend to buy a 4 room flat or even own a flat. But as Leong mentioned, they are encouraged to upgrade instead of continue staying in 1 or 2 room. And 3 room is no longer available from HDB so what can they do? Either way they have to shift because government tear down those 1/2 room flats. Now government and HDB realised they made a mistake and start offering 2/3 rooms again via BTO. They realised that not many can afford to have bigger flat, let alone need one for some.
The situation of Andrew’s parent I feel is different. 4 person, 1 sole breadwinner, executive maisonette, $464K loan. I am sure his dad did the sums, especially since his dad is a property agent. And still go through it. Big mistake.
Me too. I want to feel sorry for Andrew and his family but to buy a new property in 1992 when his dad’s earnings started dropping in 1991? Sounds more like poor financial planning.
Nicholas ,
yes, it could be Andrew’s mistake in the first place, but then how can we help this guy ?
We can continue to pinpoint his mistake but can it solve his predicament or many others who potentially will face similar problems as him in the future ?
It is so easy to point out his mistake and dwell on his follies to make ourselves feel good. It is a kind of feeling that says “Greedy Singaporean deserves it, who call him to be so stupid to take up such expensive loan”.
Unfortunately majority of us aren’t any different from him as even a normal loan of $250,000 for HDB flats nowadays is a hefty and extremely risky commitment given the gov’s policy of FT and money-making profit running the country as business. Who can guarantee you can pay off the loan at 40 years old now ? Will you have job then ? Even more will surely squeeze from the citizen and foreigners alike if history is any indication. Within the next decade, I will been seeing more “Andrew”s around while the government coffers happily drawing $10 millions of salary because party says Singapore deserve such expensive ‘management’ along with the mainstream media says how wonderful our property market is again. Hopefully by then, I already get out of this elite uncaring coffers’ country (You can’t call it a country if you have no say in anything that affect your life, and consider you nothing but just a pathetic digit)
I suggest everyone stop criticizing him but instead offers constructive solutions because that kind of solutions might just be applicable to majority of laymen and those who read this forum someday.
I too am appalled at the lack of empathy from the comments.
Perhaps the more pertinent questions are:
1. Isn’t it the job of HDB, the state housing department, to ensure everyone has a roof over their head? Perhaps it was necessary that Andrew’s family sell the masonette to settle their outstanding debt but surely HDB has a responsibility that the family still has a house to live in after the sale. Opps..sorry, just visited the HDB website. The mission is stated as “We provide home of quality and value”, nothing mention on ensuring every Singaporean has safe and secure housing. Seems that HDB has abandoned it’s original role of providing housing for SIngaporeans, but more interested in building homes for sale to Singaporeans and PRs. So which government department is responsible for ensuring every Singaporean has a roof over their head? None I can think of. Maybe the government doesn’t care for the ordinary Singaporean anymore…
2. Same with the town councils. Aren’t they set up in the first place to serve the residents, the people? Looks like they are more interested in accummulating money in their sinking fund and make profits from investment of the sinking fund.
3. It is disgusting to know that in a so called first world country like Singapore, people are still expected to live without water, electricity and gas. Utilities are basic neccessities that everyone should have access to, whether poor or not. I made the decision to leave Singapore and now live in Melbourne. Here in Victoria, utilities are classified as essential services. That means private energy providers cannot cut supplies to households as long as they are paying some amount, any amount, even if only $10 a week, towards their usage. And there are rules such as it is illegal to disconnect supply on a Friday afternoon and during the weekend. And if any provider is in breach of these regulations, a complaint can be made to the Ombudsman and the company could be fined heavily!!
One point to take note is the government’s scheme to encourage and help low income families to own an HDB flat. They said it is a way to help the poor to make them proud and build their asset. But it is also a potential financial trap as we see in this case. The low income families basically are “over-extend your mortgage”.
Perhaps it is true that a lot of us lack the empathy for this family but I am guessing, just guessing, that these lack of empathy come from those of middle lower income group like myself. I buy what U can and try not to live a life of excesses and when I see someone try to live beyond what they can and fail, I can’t help but feel they sort of deserved it.
However many of you are right as well, there are important issues raised to prevent such problems in the future. Some may say I am naive but I believe the onus lies with us as people. We need to be responsible for our actions and take charge of our lives and not depend on some safety net by the government. Of course we can say the government should do this and that but isn’t that the babysitting we wish to avoid? If the people want more freedom, more respect, we should learn to handle the responsibilities that come with it and not just blame it on someone else.
We do have the freedom to choose but we cannot choose the consequences of our choice/s. It’s not that many people do not have empathy but some points are just hard to ignore. His dad lost his job in 1991 and they bought the EM in 1992. No job why still go ahead with such a big loan? I think Leong is not asking for solutions; this kind soul is just telling us to beware of the trappings of “upgrading”. So no one is right or wrong; everyone is entitled to his opinion.
Perhaps there is hope yet. This is the latest report from Channel NewsAsia, Feb 26:
HDB urged to be more compassionate in arrears cases
SINGAPORE: The Housing and Development Board (HDB) came under the spotlight in Parliament on Tuesday with MP Ong Kian Min urging it to exercise compassion in cases of mortgage arrears.
The MP for Tampines GRC said that while the lower income group in other countries could move to cheaper housing, Singaporeans do not have that option as HDB flats are already the cheapest form of housing.
He recounted how nine families in his constituency approached him for help on Monday night, having received compulsory acquisition notices from HDB due to mortgage arrears.
Among them was Judy Mitchell, a single parent with a working daughter and an aged mother.
Mr Ong said even if Mdm Mitchell sold her current flat, she would still be unable to purchase a smaller flat, and is unlikely to get a loan from HDB or a commercial bank due to her age. She is currently over S$10,000 in mortgage arrears.
“I cannot imagine in Singapore, where we pride ourselves in our home ownership policy that a family of two working adults supporting one elderly family member would have their HDB flat repossessed and be left homeless. What is our social compact? There are those among us like Mdm Judy Mitchell who are trying their best, working hard, wanting to be self-reliant. I believe the government should step in and give them a helping hand,” Mr Ong said.
The need for a more supportive housing board was also brought up by Mr Yeo Guat Kwang, an MP for Aljunied GRC.
Speaking in Mandarin, Mr Yeo touched on the problems faced by Singaporeans who have problems selling off a bigger flat to downgrade to a smaller unit.
Saying that HDB should help Singaporeans downgrade, Mr Yeo reminded the housing board that its mission is to help Singaporeans own their homes.
1. Their house is almost twice the size of mine.
2. Their house had a mortgage of $464,100 in 1992. The year is currently 2008. This is 16 years since the house was bought. What’s the mortgage now? Given the recent property bubble, how much is their house worth now? Why cannot sell?
3. Family owns a car. If the family sells the car, it cannot fetch at least $3K?? Housing agent *MUST* drive car hor? Cannot take public transport huh?
4. SP has been entertaining them since 1999. That’s almost 10 years. If SP is a civil servant, can almost qualify for long service award.
What sort of sympathy are people expecting? :-)
Hi Kway Teow Man,
I am the writer of this article.
They can sell the house now without making a loss. The problem is not selling the flat, but getting a new flat.
They have tried balloting for a flat, and also finding an affordable resale flat, but have not had luck so far.
Rental is a poor option for them. They cannot rent from HDB because they do not qualify, since they currently live in a maisonnette. They can rent from the open market, but the rental alone would be almost as much as if they buy a new house and pay monthly instalments. I am sorry I did not write this in the article the first time — this article was on a tight deadline and it was late at night when I typed it, and I forgot all about it.
With regards to selling the car, I did also ask them about this. As a real estate agent, you need to meet clients and if the client wants to meet you at X time, you just have to go and meet him at X time. You can’t say something like, “Give me 1 hour can? Your house is quite far for me and I have to take public transport”. It is clear to me that his father NEEDS the car as part of his job. It’s not a matter of pride/maintenance of prestige that his father is keeping the car.
I find it weird that at the age of 34, andrew and his sis cannot help. Most Singaporeans start working at 24 (girls even earlier) and thats 10 years ago! Unless you buy 1 LV bag each month, I don’t see how difficult it is to have everyone pool in some $ to pay. I have many friends earning peanuts and paying everything alone. I don’t see how 4 working adults cannot pay for 1 house.
I do agree that SG house very difficult to get with all the balloting crap, but to sympathize them is difficult as I got a lot of real estate friends that doesn’t own a car. Everyone knows owning a car is a financial drainage and to own a car when you cannot pay utilities bill is simply ridiculous.
Dear Inji,
His sister is still a student studying overseas, and therefore most likely still financially dependent on the family. I do not know why she is studying overseas instead of at a local uni; perhaps she did not qualify for a local one. I am also not sure if she is working part-time to defray some of the costs.
As mentioned earlier, the mother only works as a part-time cashier in Yoshinoya, earning very little money. The father and Andrew himself are both self-employed, not very well-educated, and their income varies from month to month. Keeping up regular payments is difficult, and Andrew himself is also getting married soon. This is a lot of cost to bear.
With regards to car ownership, I am not in much of a position to decide, though from general knowledge my impression is that a car is a necessity for a real-estate agent. I’m not sure how old your friends are as well, but please bear in mind that Andrew’s father is in his sixties and may not have the physical stamina to take public transport all over the island day in, day out.
We would like to inform our readers that we intend to do a second interview with Andrew to clarify the issues brought up in the comments, and also to find out if there are others in similar situations as Andrew.
Watch out for it yeah?
Selene Cheng,
You are being ridiculous.
Even if rental is an unattractive option, it is not an impossible option. They should sell the flat and rent a flat in the open market for a short period while they look for a flat. Who cares if it is unattractive? Take it as a lesson learnt on managing money and financial discipline.
Why should SP and HDB put up with Andrew’s nonsense when he had other feasible alternatives? People like him clog the civil administrative work log and is a total waste of tax payers’ money.
I can’t believe his dad still drives and also, there is nothing mentioned about Andrew Loh’s contribution. He is already a grown man and should have some financial muscle to help with his dad’s financial woes. I have no problems with his dad wanting a better life and therefore the choice of a glorious property for his family of four. However, he has to be realistic and note that once he is unable to pay for his mortgage, he has give up his place.
Wake up, family of Loh!
I am merely stating a fact in my previous post. All of us who are home owners must have gone through a careful calculation of present and future income stream before deciding which kind of flat to buy how much mortgage to take.
One’s income is never guaranteed and what’s more an occupation that relies on commission? Knowing you’re living in a mortgaged home that can be taken away from you, wouldn’t that make you just a bit more cautious in selecting a home that won’t result in too burdensome a mortgage? Since we know how heartless the gahmen is, the least we can do for ourselves is to use our brains and don’t believe every word the gahmen says. To this day I am congratulating myself for not having fallen for the gahmen’s Punggol 21 nonsense.
I guess I find it really hard to sympathise since I came from a single-parent family (dad died when we were young) and we lived off mom’s paltry salary as a home-based seamstress of $400 every month. At that time there was no Workfare Bonus (mom wouldn’t have qualified anyway) or those Budget angpows to talk about. She had to pay the PUB bills and S&CC charges, the same transport costs and school fees and so on, which she did so on time. What was in our favour was that the flat (3-room) was fully paid for by dad and we didn’t have to worry about losing our flat.
Since Andrew is already 34 and presumably working, I cannot fathom how he cannot chip in to help his family’s situation. At 34 he should already have accumulated a sizable savings account. Use the money to pay off the debts accumulated, and have Andrew and his wife move into the maisonette. Forget about buying a new home; everytime you go through a transaction, you pay extra stamp duty and legal fees that can otherwise be saved.
This is the best solution I can think of. The question is – can Andrew and his fiancee accept it?
Dear Ben,
The ‘Andrew’ in the article is not ‘Andrew Loh’. :)
Don’t mistake him for me. I am living quite ok in my house. :)
Regards,
Andrew Loh
Selene Cheng,
You are being ridiculous.
Even if rental is an unattractive option, it is not an impossible option. They should sell the flat and rent a flat in the open market for a short period while they look for a flat. Who cares if it is unattractive? Take it as a lesson learnt on managing money and financial discipline.
Why should SP and HDB put up with Andrew’s nonsense when he had other feasible alternatives? People like him clog the civil administrative work log and is a total waste of tax payers’ money.
I can’t believe his dad still drives and also, there is nothing mentioned about Andrew’s contribution. He is already a grown man and should have some financial muscle to help with his dad’s financial woes. I have no problems with his dad wanting a better life and therefore the choice of a glorious property for his family of four. However, he has to be realistic and note that once he is unable to pay for his mortgage, he has give up his place.
Wake up!
oops sorry, maiden post :P
Like many who have commented, I question why article didn’t mention whether Andrew has got a job, and if and how he’s contributing to his family.
Sure, if he wants to prioritise buying a new flat with his fiancee instead of channeling those resources to help his family, that’s his right. But do not make this a story of “Andrew, a 34-year old young man who will soon be out of a home in 3 months because of the Housing and Development Board’s (HDB) lack of compassion and flexibility”; because he is not.
This seems to be a case of overcommitting. One just has to suck it up like everyone else who is having a tough time because they overcommitted.
According to the Department of Statistics (DOS) Key Household Income Trends 2007 and 2006, the Average Monthly Income from Work Per Household Member Among Employed Households by Decile, from 1997 to 2007, for the 1st to 10th, 11th to 20th, and 21st to 30th, Deciles, increased from $290 to $310, $470 to $570, and $630 to $790, respectively.
This means that the annualised income growth over the past 10 years was 0.7, 1.9 and 2.3 per cent, respectively, for the bottom three deciles.
So, after adjusting for inflation, there may hardly have been any income growth, for the last 10 years.
Moreover, the trend of declining household size may mean that total household incomes may have increased even less than household incomes per member.
The DOS’ 2007 report said that ‘the lowest 10% non-retiree households showed the largest increase (12 per cent) in household income per household member in real terms in 2007. This can be attributed to the increase in the number of working persons as well as higher monthly income from work among the income earners”.
Does this mean that more members in households may have to work in order to earn enough for their living expenses?
This is perhaps underscored by the Gini coefficient, a measure of income inequality, rising to 0.485 from 0.472. This is one of the biggest increases in the past seven years.
In contrast to ‘Employed Households’, the Annual Average Household Income from Work Among All Resident Households (Per Household Member), was only $380, $4,680 and $7,750, for the 1st to 10th, 11th to 20th, and 21st to 30th, Deciles, respectively.
This means that the monthly income was only $32, $390 and $646, respectively, for the bottom three deciles.
With 56,900 residents unemployed last year, how many resident households have hardly any income from work?
And how many of these have sufficient non-work sources of cash inflows to meet their living expenses?
Selene,
They can sell the house now without making a loss. The problem is not selling the flat, but getting a new flat.
The property market has been red hot for at least the last 12 months (and recall they have been in their current state since 1999). In fact, the market is starting to get worse. They had a minimum of 12 months to sell the house and downgrade to a smaller one.
Do your research and find out how much an executive maisonette is worth. Do more research and figure out how much a 4-room flat off the resale market is worth and tell us how come 12 months is not sufficient to make a downgrade.
They can rent from the open market, but the rental alone would be almost as much as if they buy a new house and pay monthly instalments.
And so??? Cannot rent until the house comes along?!?!?! It is HDB/SP’s responsibility to tolerate their nonsense so that they don’t have to rent at market rate so as not to “make a loss”?
With regards to selling the car, I did also ask them about this. As a real estate agent, you need to meet clients and if the client wants to meet you at X time, you just have to go and meet him at X time. You can’t say something like, “Give me 1 hour can? Your house is quite far for me and I have to take public transport”. It is clear to me that his father NEEDS the car as part of his job.
Have you ever bought or sold a house before and worked with real estate agents? Do you know that in general, the real estate agents can make appointments with their clients and are not expected to appear at their clients’ beck and call. As long as there is at least an hour’s notice, you can get from any end of Singapore to the other end. This is what you do when you take public transport: client says to meet at 7 pm, you leave your home at 6 pm, not at 6.45 pm and expect to get there on time.
Dunno what you’re trying to achieve with your article. I think your article needs a new title: “Family looks stupid, thanks to Selene Cheng”. *sigh*
Everyone
Please read the HDB letter to the family. It shows a better picture of the family’s financial situation. It says in the letter Andrew is not contributing towards the family financially and his sister is studying overseas.
I hate to say this but if Andrew is trying to get sympathy from the public, he should at least shown that he has done as much as he could for his own family. Not only does he not do that, he does not even pay for his fair share of living in the HDB flat. What a free loader! Can’t believe he has got the cheek to make such a fuss about his situation.
Also about his sister who’s studying overseas and not on a scholarship, I wonder where her funds for her school fees are coming from. Even if she is not relying on her family for her fees, any filial daughter would have stopped their studies or defer it to help out with the crisis at home. Or in the least, work part time if her visa allows to send money home.
Lastly, on Andrew’s dad. He could have downgraded his flat earlier before things with HDB became so bad and trying to time the property market when his mortgage payments are already in arrears is not a luxury that he can or should be afforded. If he had purchased a private property, his home would have been repossessed long ago. And if sponsoring his daughter for her overseas studies is taking too much from his pocket, then get her to be financially self-sufficient. For someone seeking compassion from HDB when he could have helped himself in so many ways just smells of abuse of the system. And get rid of the car and change to a motorbike if necessary!
Agreed with most of the comments, I do not see how Andrew can’t help and how they managed to send the sister for overseas studies. Improper planning is the cause.
Dear Kway Teow Man,
While I accept your disagreements on the issues raised in the article, I do not accept your last sentence about Selene.
It is totally uncalled for and regrettable that you would make such a statement.
Regards,
Andrew Loh
To me, andrew’s case is simply not a reasonable one. There are more valid/stronger cases out there, probably TOC writer should have contacts in the lower tier of the society.
Sigh….that is why being in real estate is hard….unless you are willng to go out, approach home owners and seek those who are willing to sell their homes through you. You cannot rely on listings alone becuase those already have other agents serving!
Secondly the family can downgrade to 4 room and 5 room. Then you may still have some extra to pay your debts.
In Singapore, unless you have qualifications and a good employer, then life is very difficult.
SP was compassionate enough to let Andrew have his power supply back despite $2k still owing. It was not in my case, when all I wanted is to get a new SP account as my landlord cheated me and failed to pay for utilities. I had to, for at least a few days, put up with trickling water, till I moved out. Lesson learnt, some real eastate agents help their clients to be crooks.
You have many singles (and very sick) between 50 but under 55…and because of age factor, voluntary charities aren’t ‘helping’. What takes a normal chap 5 minutes to get lunch/dinner from nearby kopitiam, the aged sick may take 45 minutes to do so.
There is also NO SUPPORT for single unwedded mothers (1 baby) to get their own flat when they themselves can PAY for a flat. HDB – u need to wake up!
Be ‘realistic’ not ‘optimistic’