Ex-independent candidate Jeremy Tan says Singapore’s fertility crisis is a housing crisis

SINGAPORE: In a lengthy interview, Jeremy Tan, who contested in GE2025 as an independent candidate at Mountbatten SMC, talked about a wide range of issues, including why he entered politics, public housing, and what seems to be everyone’s favourite topic of the moment: the record-low birth rate,

On the June 15 (Monday) episode of the BRAVE Southeast Asia Tech podcast, Mr Tan, an entrepreneur, argued that housing, inequality, and political complacency, not immigration or culture wars, are the real threats to the future of the city-state.

While he lost his bid to the ruling People’s Action Party’s Gho Sze Kee, a fellow political newbie, he ended up with over 36% of the vote and grew popular with many Singaporeans.

He shared his insights on last year’s GE, underlining that he believes Singapore needs stronger political competition rather than less, telling hosts Jeremy Au and Shiyan Koh, “I think the system itself requires a high level of competition. If team two and team three are ready, your team one will always be good… But at the same time, team one will never be ready unless team two and team three are pushing them to be ready.”

He also had interesting things to say about where opposition parties should concentrate their efforts on fielding candidates at Single Member Constituencies (SMCs) instead of spreading themselves too thin at Group Representation Constituencies (GRCs). He argued that doing so would give people a chance to prove their competencies first and therefore gain voters’ trust.

As for boosting Singapore’s birth rate, Mr Tan claimed that the fertility crisis is, in reality, a housing crisis. If housing is made affordable, people will have more children.

“Don’t capitalise HDBs. I think that’s the issue. A flat in Tengah just sold for $2.8 million for 1,200 square feet. That’s crazy. I used to go to the army at the Tengah area. There were just cemeteries behind there. I don’t know why people go there,” he said, adding that if a home is available to Singaporeans for S$200,000, they would take it and start having families.

“It’s the financial risk that deters them,” he added, also saying, “You cannot capitalise properties so much that the basic cost of being a family is compromised.”

If HDB flats are seen as investments, this would mean that Singaporeans would face longer mortgages as well as larger financial commitments, something that young people may understandably be reluctant to do, while in the past, in comparison, they could pay off homes relatively quickly and start families earlier. Today’s conditions have given rise to delayed marriage, delayed childbearing, and fewer children overall, he argued.

Watch Mr Tan’s interview in full here. /TISG

Read also: Singaporean man says he’s confused why people keep saying public housing is ‘unaffordable for low-income individuals’