Comments on: HDB: Homelessness due to policies? BTS better than BTO? 31,000 flats unsold, but nobody knows?

By: Detroit Lions

Detroit Lions — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 10:27:25 +0000

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By: hopeful...

hopeful... — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 15:15:27 +0000

I understand that the government has built Studios flat (30 years lease type for ranging price from S$80K and above) catering to those SENIOR CITIZENS which is really thoughtful.

To show that the govenment sincerely meant to help our own Senior Citizens by extending this sale (30 years’ lease studio aparmtent) also to those SENIOR (SINGLE STATUS) CITIZENS who are currently still working overseas and wish to relocate back for good and if the successful buyer does not relocate back to reside in their selected flat then the HDB/government have the right to cancel the flat and impose a minimum fine……

Thank you for listening and more importantly by actioning the request… :)

By: Jenny

Jenny — Fri, 21 May 2010 07:00:34 +0000

i just guess that all that we speak falls on deaf ears…Even at the regular MP Meeting session nothing comes to a conclusion.Still HDB has a higher end finally.I hate seeing their reply letters.

By: peppy

peppy — Sun, 25 Apr 2010 22:40:36 +0000

Yes HDB have a deficit because they acquire land from SLA which sells them at fair value.
SLA will release the land to them at the reserve price(minimum) if im not wrong. If to private property, they will have to bid for the area and still have to meet the reserve price
In essence, your hdb is already undervalued

By: shanker

shanker — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 06:42:23 +0000

i am sick n tired of this government monopoly where the losers are fixed to the people.VOTE PAP OUT!PROBLEM OVER N TATS IT.

By: Lefleche

Lefleche — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 15:09:35 +0000

Spoke to a friend in HDB. Quite high up guy. told me that in confidential briefings it is admitted that the entire policy for National development, not just housing, was caught off guard and unprepared for influx of foreigners. So you see, its not just HDB pblm but an entire management failure of MND. he also said its obvious MND and other ministries not coordinating. one ministry say more foriegners the other didnt know it was happening so didnt plan infrastructure for it.

i replied that this is nothing confidential because it is so obvious that policies under LHL’s Leederslip are hotch-potch and knee-jerk in nature. nothing coherent or long-visioned. everyone that has eyes can see that LHL has no Leederslip qualities and his abilities are pretty mundane. So if you have Leederslip under LHL like that, what can u expect from his team? Who is the minister of MND ah?

By: y2h

y2h — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 10:40:21 +0000

With regard to the 4-room ratio in limbang green, HDB response me that the land is only suitable to have that kind of 4-room due to the land.
I cannot really talk back to them unless I can hired some land expert to check the land. If not they say what, I have to accept.
Maybe we need a group of land expert to help the poor citizen to check the land so that we can ensure all BTO are actually design best for the citizen.

By: testtubewasher

testtubewasher — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 12:49:35 +0000

I guess most singaporeans not buying HDB did not look into it closely – 3.5 years if you are lucky or buys a 2-room flat.
Check out the applicants versus flat ratio here – http://www.hdb.gov.sg/fi10/fi10321p.nsf/w/BuyingNewFlatYourAppl?OpenDocument
A summary for the past BTOs and sale of balance flats
Sale of balance flats (Oct 09) -2132 flats, 21452 applicants (1 to 10)
BTO boonlay/sengkang (Oct 09) – 1200 flats, 4487 applicants (many 2 and 3 rooms leftover, wrong type of flats built)
BTO punggol (Nov 09) – 1078 flats, 4678 applicants
BTO Dawson (Dec 09) – 1588 flats, 9857 applicants
BTO BukitPanjang/Sembawang (Dec 09) – 952 flats, 2888 applicants (too many 2 and 3 rooms, wrong build ratio)
BTO CCK/hougang (Jan 10) – 1291 flats, 7077 applicants (record for 4-room flats to applicants ratio set)
BTO punggol/woodlands (Feb 10) – 1534 flats, 6648 applicants
Analyzing the number of applicants to flats, I find 4-room has the worst ratio and 2-room are generally left-over. Obviously, to put that “affordable” roof over everyone’s head they had to reduce the size to 2-room units and nobody is taking it. So even if you did apply to all BTOs with 4-room in mind, ya typical person would need 4-5 tries…

By: Bear

Bear — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 08:16:00 +0000

I think the housing problem has been, and will continue to be, plagued by the ever-increasing population in Singapore. No amount of new or existing policies will be able to solve the problems arising. Imagine, Singapore is globally ranked 3rd in terms population density (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_and_dependencies_by_population_density), only surpassed by Macau and Monaco. While it is a simple averaging of total population over total land area, it does gives a gauge of how dense we are. Our absolute population (~ 5M) is more than New Zealand (~4.3M), but our land area is only 710 square km compared to 270,ooo square km of New Zealand. Go figure…

By: tiredsingaporean

tiredsingaporean — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 12:35:28 +0000

Singaporeans has been so badly manipulated by those MIW all these years, the system is so corrupted that 1 man have successfully manipulated his entire team into corruption by authorizing to pay his own gang with millions out of the singaporeans pocket, just to keep himself in power.

By: Human Being

Human Being — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 07:53:38 +0000

You must admire the moral ethics of our MSM, putting the entire problem of homelessness on one man’s shoulder. Are they saying every homeless Singaporean is greedy and lazy. Seriously, our moral compass is really screwed. I realise we are not a welfare state, but if you don’t provide the fishing rod, how is anyone going to learn how to catch fish?

By: commentator

commentator — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 06:47:36 +0000

Instead of admitting the mess they themselves have created, the govt deems people who cannot pay their mortgage as “greedy and lazy”.

By: small hum

small hum — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 06:08:06 +0000

The bank is really scheming. Loan money to someone who wants to buy a high-end apartment with a 99% possiblity of defaulting to hopefully reposses the property. Do this as long as the property is sound and property market trend is going up.
Can capitalism be self-regulated in this small Singapore? I think not. It is not like we have multiple banks to choose from or an experienced opposition to closely scrutinise the details of the incumbent.

By: A Tan

A Tan — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 05:52:30 +0000

notalone
I hope you are aware that Mr Buffett is world’s third richest man because he owns shares in Berkshire.
So his salary is peanuts.

By: A Tan

A Tan — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 05:49:46 +0000

lim
Gd pt.

By: RW

RW — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 00:14:37 +0000

We should acknowledge that there are people with poor financial planning out there. To have a family of 6, have a 4 room flat on an income of $800 is evidence of poor planning. As it is, to have two kids is taxing on income, even for a mid-income family.

I think Mr Leong missed the point about rental flats and EMS. EMS provides rental flats at market rates while HDB provides rental flats at subsidized rates. Mr Yusof and others can always opt for rental flats @ market rates if they want because they are available on the market.

So the thing is shortage here is not the physical rental flats- there is always some available on the market. The thing that is really in ‘shortage’ is subsidies. The main question for Singaporeans is- how Singaporeans want our society to evolve? Are we willing to shoulder more taxes for solidarity with less fortunate? And if we are, how much moral hazard/free-riders are we willing to accept, at the expense of those who have been hardworking and prudent with money?

I think all societies have different answers to these questions. The Danes have accepted the concept of ‘solidarity’ and have been willing to pay 50% taxes to get equality. They also have accepted that some people will leach off the system (e.g. students who have done 9 yrs in university because they get allowance while studying).

For Singapore, we have to figure out our own right ‘mix’ and what we want.

By: ACACIA

ACACIA — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 16:11:16 +0000

I over heard two foreigners from India speaking over lunch today next to me. One asking the other if he applied for EP ( employment pass ), he said no, he applied for PR and got it ” quite fast” !!

By: New Era

New Era — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 14:41:49 +0000

I am just sick and tired of this government putting foreigners ahead of citizens.

I am voting for change.

There is no other choice.

By: senior citizen

senior citizen — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 14:37:52 +0000

For the love of money is the cause of all evils – “growth at all costs” – leading to the great influx of cheap foreign workers, which caused greed to breed. By cheap foreign workers, I don’t mean the construction/contract manual labor recruited en bloc who live on site or dorms provided by their employers. I mean those who are here because of our open door policy, to compete with Singapore citizens for jobs, etc.

By: Daft Punk

Daft Punk — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 13:21:17 +0000

Can somebody explain to me why holding a supply of 31000 PUBLIC HDB apartments is a bad thing? They don’t depreciate and are instantly available in urgent cases…