Andrew Loh / Leong Sze Hian / Special thanks to Lynn Lee
“If everybody jumps onto this safety net, whether they deserve to or they don’t, that safety net is going to break. … They could easily afford a studio apartment or a small resale flat. They…should not be competing with needy families for rental flats… We need to take decisive steps to correct this.” - Mah Bow Tan, 6 Jan 2010, Straits Times.
Blocks 46 to 50 in Bedok South Avenue 3 was selected for the Selective En Bloc Redevelopment Scheme – SERS – in 2004. All the residents of the block have been relocated. The HDB has put up notices at the void decks of the neighbouring blocks to inform residents of the plan for blocks 46 to 50.
Its notice, among other things, says:
Pending the future redevelopment of the site, residential units in these blocks [46 to 50] will be put to temporary use. HDB will be engaging a Managing Agent to lease out the flats. The Managing Agent will be commencing renovation works at the blocks in the next few months.
The majority of the flats will be leased to Singapore Citizens, Singapore Permanent Residents and students. The rest will be leased to S Pass and Employment pass holders. These are professionals, executives and [supervisory?] staff. There will be no construction and marine sector workers in these flats. Some flats will be reserved as Interim Rental Housing for needy Singaporean families in financial difficulty with temporary accommodation.
Under the HDB’s eligibility rules for public rental flats, foreigners, permanent residents, students, S Pass and Employment Pass holders (who by definition are foreigners), are not eligible to rent public rental flats from the HDB.
So, why is it that HDB flats are being rented to these non-citizens, when needy Singaporeans have to wait up to years to get a rental flat?
Has the HDB ever announced the above policy shift to the media?
Has this shift in public housing policy, given HDB’s mission to provide affordable housing to Singaporeans (not foreigners), ever been disclosed in Parliament?
As to “the majority of flats will be leased to Singapore Citizens”, how many flats and blocks in total are now currently being leased to non-citizens?
If none of our HDB flats are rented to non-citizens, does it mean that no needy Singaporean will have to be deprived of a rental flat now?
What is the ratio of flats rented to non-citizens to Singaporeans?
Is the Managing Agent EM Services, like the two flats in Toa Payoh being rented to the Integrated Resorts’ foreign workers?
If the answer is yes, then, how does the HDB, as the majority owner of EM Services, deal with the possible conflict of interest as the sole provider of housing to needy Singaporeans from $26 rental a month compared to the much higher rental and profits if flats are rented to non-citizens?
As these are SERS flats, in a sense, they were taken from Singaporeans and given to foreigners.
Finally, we think the issue is not whether the flats are being rented to “professionals, executives and staff” and not “construction and marine sector workers”, but one of accountability and transparency on the contention of renting much needed flats to non-citizens.
Perhaps SERS may have acquired a new meaning – Scheme to Exclude Residents who are Singaporeans!
300 new applicants join the rental queue every month, the number of people returning flats is less than half of that. Over and above that, there are over 500 appeals from MPs each month, from those who do not qualify for rental housing, who are not registered in the queue at the moment. I am sure all of you would know that this is probably the largest item on the agenda, as far as MPS is concerned.
There are now 4,550 applicants on the rental queue. Some are really in need of help but they are in the queue waiting. They have no other housing options and the rental flat is the final safety net for their families.
**The Online Citizen welcomes any response from the HDB or its Managing Agent. We can be reached at theonlinecitizen@gmail.com.
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Keep up the good work TOC!
Good job, TOC!
pap *pui*. Enough is enough! Just vote those fat white pigs out in the next election!
This Mah Bow Tan, is surely, 100%, absolutely, must be, going to lose his seat in Tampines.
PAP is treating us like fools. It’s like telling us repeatedly that a black cat is white, when all of us and the whole world know it is black.
Enough is enough
Don;t just vote MBT out. Get the younger generation to vote the FAMILEE out.
MM Lee mentioned that we are getting lazier. I wonder how many hours he is working now
yet drawing his million dollar salary yet talking thrash like never before.
We the local believe him and suffer. Take 120 dollar for National Services for 2.5 years.
Maximum for my 2.5 years national services only earn me 4.5K, Now, they give CINA Scholar
and India Thrash 600 – 800 dollars for scholarship,. Tuition waiver, housing waiver.
U think I stupid.
After I served 2.5 years of national services I still draw less than PM 1 day salary. i.e 10K a day.
Even he shit and has diarrhoea for the whole day. He still draw more than.
The ground is boiling now. We need to bring out the chopper and start chopping. If not
we will be eaten alive again and again.
CSJ is right. They are partying and partying yet forgetting that we have lots of Singaporeans
suffering.
U want your millions. I want my happiness. If I die, I make sure everyone die together.
Shelter is a basic necessity…. every Singaporean needs one and it has to be affordable. It’s fine that young Singaporeans who are single and still in good terms with their family can live together in a small flat (3 rooms or less). But families who do not want to go into debt and want affordable housing should be given rental flats. Not everyone wants to be forced to go into debt paying the HDB. Is that what life is all about?
I am queueing to buy my 1st flat. The recession costed me my job and competition with FTs led me to numerous months looking for a job competiting with many around the world. I feel so strong after all these difficulties. I thought i could get married and afford a lease by now. That was 3 years ago. Things changed and coincidentally, the flat prices also soared. I am so happy. I get to be stronger and stronger each day facing and surviving all these challenges living in singapore.
wow, l luv sg.
I think the current govt has screwed the HDB by changing it’s focus and the people of Singapore…. remember not everyone wants to go into debt… unfortunately majority of Singaporeans are in debt.
I agree with PCL9… things can never be the same in the future.
Being in debt (basically caused by owning HDB which is supposed to be a basic affordable housing), puts incredible strain on the family. At least 20% or more of an average Singaporean’s salary goes to paying the debt. With life in Singapore forever being unpredictable, it’s amazing how people can think of the short term and agree to a 30 year loan.
What kind of “talented” foreign professionals and executives would require Singapore Government’s assistance to rent a place to stay?
It’s obvious that these so-called “foreign talents” are no real talents. For god’s sake, they cannot even pay real market rental rates, but have to rely on PAP government to give market subsized rates.
This is so rich – chasing Singaporeans from their flats, to give foreigners cheap rental places, so to compete with Singaporeans for job opportunities.
It’s very clear – we got to VOTE OUT PAP NOW!
guys,
just email the link to this article to as many friends as you can. Let them judge for themselves, especially those pap supporters, whether is this the type of government you want.
Vote for you future and vote for your children future. Vote out pap.
Singaporean executives do not even get protection under labour law as they are deemed intelligent enough to take care of themselves. Why is our govt taking special care of foreign executives and staff? Are they incapable of thinking for themselves? why is our govt helping foreigners to build a crutch mentality, especially with our money? This Mah Bow Tan has got to go. He is too talented for Singaporeans.
This is outrageous ! How can hdb be saying one thing and yet doing another. If TOC has not taken the effort and the hours of research to unearth this piece of extremely useful information, and which by the way I thank the team very much, all of us would have been kept in the dark and God knows how many flats have been rented out to foreigners behind our back ?!
hdb (I’m not even giving them the respect by addressing them in upper case) must and be obligated to serve the citizens first becoz they are CIVIL SERVANTS paid with the taxpayers’ monies. Have they all forgotten their purpose, which is to provide basic essential housing to all deserving citizens ?
I can’t understand why our MILLION DOLLARS ministers can never learn from UAE. Even they can preempt the potential problem that comes with foreign workers and has created self-sustained estates for these workers on islands. They understand that they PRIORITY is with their citizens and all amenities in the mainland is for the locals to enjoy, and not having to squeeze and compete with the foreigners. It is NOT about class division or segregation, but BASIC understanding of what matters to YOUR PEOPLE first ! Your people should come first and anything that compromises that principle is simply inviting question on your ability to lead and judge.
please show Mr. Mah Bow Tan the way to the EXIT
i’m telling you, one of these days when Singaporeans awaken from their stupor, they will wonder why they have been voting for leaders who clearly want to grab only money (and power) for themselves.
much like how the Germans realized after WWII their collective mistake in blindly following the Nazis.
Great job TOC!
Singaporeans come first? what a joke!
pap is contradicting their words with their action, again and again. Stop treating us like idiots. We are fools no more.
Some time ago, I blogged about JTC’s Scheme for Housing of Foreign Talent (SHiFT). I was alerted to this by Singaporean contacts in A*Star — an email alerting employees of the scheme was sent to the staff of an A*Star research institute, including the Singaporeans (even though they are ineligible for the flats under the scheme). It would be interesting to find out if the flats provided under this scheme are SERS flats.
Note the language on JTC’s website: “quality housing and apartments specially for foreign talents”.
First I would like to say what a nice look TOC has taken up. Congratulation for coming back.
This Mah Bow Tan, I cannot stand looking at him each time I meet him, yet I put on a stupid smile when face with him and pretend to be his pal. Inside my heart I feel like asking him to the cul de sac but then don’t have the gut to do that.
What to do when you meet a wicked man? All I could do when I see his dumb face in the magazine, I just add a few X across his face. But what do I get by doing that, nothing I suppose except letting off some hot air.
Haiz sad to say I am such a gutless chap.
Another thing that would be interesting to find out about JTC’s SHiFT scheme is whether the rent they offered is below market rates. If so, JTC would be effectively subsidizing the rents of foreign talent while forcing Singaporeans who need to rent onto the free market. Here are screenshots I took of the current flats available under that scheme:
Whoops. Image links:
http://rot.blogsome.com/images/Picture1.png
http://rot.blogsome.com/images/Picture2.png
I think this low cost housing for foreigners is a response to MNC companies here dealing in the manufacturing line asking for extremely-low-wage workers whom the later can only come from overseas. As housing prices have increased significantly, such low-wage workers would be hard-pressed to find affordable accommodation without being charged for overcrowding.
I see this as a temporary solution until productivity increases with things like low-cost manufacturing-line workers being replace with automation.
The government here has already said that companies here must improve their productivity, else close down or shift out.
Nevertheless, HDB has shown legal arrogance by jumping into this without due process in informing parliament about its change of plans. Either that or Mah Bow Tan failed as a minister of Singapore to responsibly make an announcement to the public about HDB’s use of publicly-funded infrastructure for commercial purposes.
IF neither of what i had posted earlier is true, then CPIB should investigate into a possible corruption by HDB. Lim Swee Say who is the PAP “party-whip” would also need to ask some fundamental questions about its members.
@ small hum
The HDB notice was very clear on this: it wrote, “professional and executive staff”, including S-Pass and employment pass holders.
There is no basis at all to say that this is a response to MNCs requiring low-paid workers.
In fact, it should be crystal-clear that PAP has let in massive numbers of foreigners and further subsidizing their accomodation needs. That is why there are so many blocks acquired under SERS, dormitories hastily constructed (e.g. Serangoon Gardens) and long queues of homeless Singaporeans.
Goh cock talking is now talking instead of letting LHL or LKY do any talking.
The fact that homeless people exist and the shabby way they have been treated is a sure demonstration that his gracious society failed.
either it is poor execution or he never wanted that in the first place.
So, all the talk about esc saving us etc is bullshit.
As for MBT,
Honestly, why would you want to join a the ranks of the homeless people that requires you to rent a not so good place from the govt?
When hdb first started, there was also private property owners. did they complain? They probably think they are lucky to live in a good place and with hdb building cheap but ok flats for poor people, slums would disappear.
So why would a Singaporean aspire to live in a rental flat and therefore not work. The problem now is the pay is too low for Singaporeans. PR uses this place and the exchange rate to send monies back home. We can’t.
MBT demolishes all that. He prefers homeless people around Singapore that he insert into rental place as and when he likes. Anyone who thinks the execution of his selection for rental policy is coherent is out of his mind.
Of course, homeless people are not the only people MBT make fun of.
This pig also destroy supposedly rich people like Yeo Chow Tong, with his cock up building programme.
Back to Goh Cock talking who is trying to defuse tension against LHL/LKY/MBT, he should be ashamed that the govt he passed the baton to, destroy the gracious society concept that he cocks about.
Or have we been con all along.
This is unacceptable behaviour. You people have no respect. Better quietly stay in your little pigeonholes: they are the little piece of the country that you own and all you will ever own.
As God said to Job: Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? So, LKY (not me, the uppercase one) will ask you: where were you when I singlehandedly built the nation out of nothing? You better shut up or I will smite you with the lightning bolt of my wrath!
The rabble has grown lazy. Yes, you worship the false gods of laziness and Western democratic ideals! You need to have spurs dug into your hides! I will smite you in the middle of the night with my righteous right hand, the high priests of the ISD. And you will learn to fear and obey the one true Son.
//lky
LKY single handedly build Singapore?
Really?
How could that be possible? unless he is god.
I forgot to add that in this esc and whatever proposal leeHaveLied made, there is no indication of a sensible strategy to help the poor.
now that we even have homeless people. there must be poor people too.
How is he, as a leader, help to solve this problem?
I thought giving or helping to find a job for these poor people is a solution.
I don’t know what this govt is trying to do really?
1. cock up investments overseas.
2. don’t take care of poor Singaporeans.
3. always want monies from the people through taxes.
Also do you all notice the way PAP make monies is like those lazy land lord or gangster in the movies:
encircle a place.
place a entry gate.
Collect money from people going in or out.
This method is evident from the way they handle the foreigners.
Charge the employers for employing foreigners.
Keep increasing the charge until the employer cannot take it and stop.
Give him a bit more time and squeeze again.
IF they need more revenue, get more foreigners through and charge.
Now, that they declare they are increasing the levy (i.e. tax) by they are letting FT stay in HDB, it is basically like making more monies by charging more people that went through the gate at a price higher than before.
One wonders why this govt needs so much monies.
Where did the monies go?
Let me explain:
All LHL has proposed was to increase gst to help fund to help the poor.
But there is no coherent (even sensible) strategy to help the poor.
Even LKY didn’t think letting poor people rent is a solution (even short term) and say that that would make these people even poorer or stuck in poor.
I honestly don’t know why being in a rented place for 5 years would make me stay poor forever.
ALL the FT who came in probably had to do that.
I would have thought not having enough pay through skilled work is a sure route to misery.
Having skills might not get your out of poverty but it really increases your chance to get out of poverty.
And how does LKY expect people to learn if your living conditions are horrible i.e. you sleep in tents and playgrounds?
therefore, I don’t think it was ever the intention for LHL to help the poor when he raise GST.
If LHL really wants to help the poor, he should really ask LKY how he did it.
The fact that LHL didn’t know shows at least 3 things:
1. he is not interested.
2. he asked but LKY didn’t want to tell him.
3. he asked but LKY didn’t explain well. Maybe lky forgot. maybe he didn’t know. it was one of his officers who did the work (GKS for example)
Any of these 3 cases, I think it is sick to raise taxes in the name of helping the poor but didn’t think of a long term solution to help the poor and not to spend the all raised tax to help the poor.
By renting the en-bloc blocks to foreigners as an interim measure, it only serves to prove that this daft Minister is contradicting himself again when he said ” They …. should not be competing with needy families for rental flats.”
Remember he first contradicted himsel when he said “HDB flats are affordable”. If affordable, why is that so many families cannot cope with the monthly mortgage payments and have their HDB flats re-possessed.
So this particular enbloc development is not urgent but can be delayed again ?
So that they can sell at higher market prices ?
So they can use it as the next carrot for the next GE ?
Full of bullshit again from a typical idiot PAP Minister.
In Bedok South, Blk 30+, a ginger-coloured cat was locked in a cage outside a flat. SPCA was notified and an Inspector from the SPCA investigated. He found that the cat belonged to a person( (a local-bred Singaporean) temporarily residing in an already crowded flat because of her long wait for a rental flat. She showed the Inspector letter of appeal by the MPto the HDB and yet she and her cat are still waiting! So much for Singaporeans first!
“Some flats will be reserved as Interim Rental Housing for needy Singaporean families in financial difficulty with temporary accommodation”
Great job TOC! Suddenly they are ‘taking care’ of needy Singaporeans!! Keep up the heat!
Misfit
//100%Singaporean
just remember mbt told you to squeeze 7 to 8 in a 3 room not long ago but they are letting in ft with big rooms
With all the bashing against the govt, I really am wondering what are the solutions that the opposition parties or TOC itself would like to suggest in dealing with the issues of the homeless. I wonder whether they are even aware of the problems in the first place. So if people could not pay for their flats cos they did not budget properly or spent their money lavishly, the govt is supposed to use tax payers money to support them so they can stay on in their flat? And if they already sell their flats before, meaning they have already profitted from sale of their previous flats, we are to take from tax money to support them? Dun make sense right?
What about these people’s familiy, where are they in helping these homeless people?
Woah… it is appearing clearer that more and more Ghettos are being formed. So soon a entire neighbourhoold block can become “International Settlement” (租界) and it will be places where the police don’t dare to enter…
@Tiger:
Everyone knows when their car has broken down, but doesn’t mean they know how to fix it. If their current mechanics can’t fixed it, go to another one lah.
A lot of singaporeans don’t have spare moeny on food, not to mention “lavishly”.
Yes, a government’s first commitment is to its people, ensuring that their fundamental human rights are protected. That means that no fear from hunger, shelter, dignity, physical protection… the list can go on more about the government’s responsibility to its people.
Fundamentally do you see people as plain commodities that are disposable? If yes, then fiscal policy come first regardless.
“And if they already sell their flats before, meaning they have already profitted from sale of their previous flats…”
And that’s what happens when everyone is told their flats are assets that will appreciate over time no?
Before you start complaining about the maggots on the meat, ask who put the meat there for the flies to lays eggs on in the first place.
everything discovered here whether its from hdb or EMS as long as the top management is non other than any MIW MPs, its already a done deal case, as long as it makes alot of money, tell me who these MPs reports to at the end of the day? do you find any such similar cases happen to any other opp ward? its all about $$$ my fellow singaporeans.
What to do….in $ingapore, it is all about $$$
Time is ripe to tweak our political system.
[ The rest will be leased to S Pass and Employment pass holders. These are professionals, executives and [supervisory?] staff. ]
Prediction: We’ll be getting more white trash.
//tiger
for every singaporean that spend lavishly, you will find 9 that dOESN’T
this standard mode of operation of pap:
1. invent a term.
2. tell people why the term is good for singapore. (for example FT
3. after the election, admit anything that resembles that term such as FT.
4. we thought we got ft but in fact we got trash.
PAP is blinded by $$. They are using public resources to benefit their own pockets, (Keppel Land is shareholder of EM Services)(Ang mong seng is COO of EM services)
We are treated as second class citizens to be thrown crumbs when they wished to appease us, but abandoned when they don’t need to placate us.
From SM GCT: “Past models which have worked may not work in the future”.
So the current HDB policies are not working, when is the change???
tiger,
“With all the bashing against the govt, I really am wondering what are the solutions that the opposition parties or TOC itself would like to suggest in dealing with the issues of the homeless”
THIS IS THE STANDARD RESPONSE OF THE PAP GOVERNMENT WHENEVER THEY TALK ABOUT OPPOSITION PARTIES.
IN THE FIRST PLACE, SOLUTIONS DO NOT ORIGINATE FROM ONE MAN OR ONE PARTY. YOU NEED GOVERNMENT MACHINERY TO FORMULATE, EXECUTE AND EVALUATE POLICIES. IF YOU SILENCE CITIZENS WITH QUESTIONS ABOUT YOUR POLICY AND TELL THEM IF YOU WANT TO DO IT ANOTHER WAY, FORM THE NEXT GOVERNMENT, THEN THERE IS NO NEED FOR ELECTIONS AND THE VOTE.
SINCE WHEN DID THE PAP OUTLINE ALL THEIR POLICIES WAY BEFORE BEING ELECTED? NEVER. THEY FORMULATE THEM AS WORLD AND NATIONAL EVENTS TAKE PLACE. SO IT IS WITH ANYONE OF ALTERNATIVE VIEWS. IF A PERSON OR OPPOSITION PARTY IS ABLE TO COME UP WITH A SOLUTION WITHOUT BEING IN POWER, THEN IT OR HE/SHE MUST BE A FAKE.
CAN I ALSO ASK PAP MP ALVIN YEO, WHAT ARE HIS SOLUTIONS FOR THE SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC ILLS AFFLICTING SINGAPORE AT THE PRESENT TIME?
I KNOW WHAT HIS ANSWER WILL BE:
“I am a lawyer and not an economist.”
BUT YET HE BECAME MP.
DOUBLE STANDARDS BY THE RULING PARTY AS ALWAYS.
if you read gct’s explanation, you will be surprised at what he said:
he said employers wanted to grow so the govt gave them foreign workers.
but does the govt needs to hand out pr so quickly and in such a big amount?
blame pushing now?
Excellent point, NewFrontier. Well done.
if pap win the elections under the terms it set, don’t be surprised if they come around telling you that it is your fault for supporting them
If you read GCT explanation, you would be surprised by another thing:
if there is such a high demand for our services, would that not incentivise companies to recruit S’poreans massively and train them to help employers make more monies if the floodgate had not been open.
also, pay if increase by a lot over the last decade which it didn’t.
So, what GCT said is a another lie.
what I meant was
pay should increase by a lot over the last decade which it didn’t.
Also, he sounded apologetic.
Let’s make no mistake, the rate of approval of prs and citizenship is largely due to the last 2 years when the economy was not doing well.
Couldn’t he have use a system of employment pass? why does he need to give out citizenship and PRs during the last 2 years massively?
GCT is lying to keep his million dollars salary.
GCT is a habitual liar. What happened to “More Good Years” and “Swiss Standard of Living”?