Singapore’s parliamentarians are not much of a help when it comes to securing rental flats, says a report from The New Paper.
The thrust of the report was on securing public housing for single parents who have been either divorced, widowed or otherwise or left homeless by force of circumstances.
According to Jolene Tan, a spokesperson from AWARE when speaking to The Independent the group that advocates inclusiveness and non-discriminatory policies, the need to include divorcees and those left behind were also part of the national inclusive drive Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong had once announced.
AWARE is recommending an income ceiling based on the number of members in a household and not any blanket stipulation that excludes and omits others.
It is also seeking a tweaking or removing the debarment rule blacklisting those who have owned and sold HDB for a period of 30 months after they have sold their homes. Just what these people will do within that 30-month window period is what has ailed many a concerned party. It will leave many wondering and wandering in the thoroughfares as what could be ordinarily expected.
As could be seen and expected in nations across the world, housing and the security of home shelter lies at the heart of everyday concerns of any a populace as how it was once seen in the United States from 2009 onward, when home prices depreciated to some unusually low levels.
Still, there is no denying what Singapore’s Ministry of National Development, will do to ensure that housing is afforded to all and sundry regardless of one status. Over AWARE’s website the ministry has assured it will exercise flexibility on households who do not meet the eligibility criteria such as the income ceiling, to rent a flat from HDB on a case-by-case basis. But only 273 applications for a waiver on income ceiling were approved out of 1,900 households that made those requests.
Yet despite the challenges that confronts AWARE, the advocacy group says it “will continue speaking out” such that inclusiveness is eventually attained.