As temperatures rise, low-income families in rental units struggle to beat the heat

SINGAPORE — For 34-year-old homemaker Logeswari, who lives with five children in a two-room public rental flat in Bedok, the recent spate of very hot weather has made life harder in several ways: The nausea from her pregnancy feels more unbearable, her utility bills have doubled and her five-year-old son scratches himself throughout the night because of the heat.

She and her children have eczema, which has been exacerbated by the hot and humid conditions and increased sweating. 

As the mercury climbed in the past three months, she bought a portable air conditioner secondhand for around S$200, though running it through the day has raised her electricity bills from S$90 a month to around S$200 now.

"For this kind of unit, this is considered quite high. I'm quite worried if prices keep increasing," said Ms Logeswari, who goes by only one name.

As Singaporeans have had to deal with increasingly hot weather on a regular basis, the Ministry of Sustainability and the Environment (MSE) and the National Environment Agency (NEA) launched Singapore’s first Heat Stress Advisory last July, to guide the population on how to minimise the risk of heat-related illness.

In conversations with rental flat residents and low-income workers, TODAY found that low-income families such as Ms Logeswari's are finding it extra tough to do so. 

Their living conditions make the discomfort more palpable, while steps they take to combat the heat are leading to heavy utility bills they can hardly afford.

Most of them do not have in-unit air conditioners as residents of Government-subsidised rental flats have to seek permission from the Housing and Development Board (HDB) before carrying out any renovation works, including the installation of air conditioners. 

The Ministry of National Development (MND) has said this in line with market practice, where tenants have to seek landlords’ permission before making changes to their units.

In a written reply to parliamentary questions in July 2023 on whether air conditioners are allowed in HDB rental flats, the ministry said HDB considers such requests on a case-by-case basis. 

“While HDB does not track the number of requests to install air conditioners in public rental flats, only a small proportion of tenants have made such requests. HDB has generally approved such requests, taking into consideration tenants’ circumstances, such as medical grounds," MND said. 

More broadly, climate experts and activists around the world have noted that while vulnerable and low-income communities are often the least responsible for contributing to climate change, they disproportionately bear the negative effects. 

As extreme weather persists and heat stress emerges as a critical concern, they say it is important to see how low-income families here are coping with rising temperatures, and what can be done to build heat resilience among vulnerable communities.

TAKING A TOLL ON HEALTH, FINANCES

Because she and her kids suffer from eczema, Ms Logeswari received approval from HDB to install an air-conditioning unit. 

But she ultimately decided against it, as the combined cost of an air-conditioning unit, installation and monthly electricity bills were prohibitive. 

So she bought a portable air conditioner, but that has led to some angst too.

"The girls sleep in the room and the boys sleep outside. If I put (the portable air-conditioner) one way, it will trigger (fights), because they will say, 'How come they sleep in aircon and we cannot?'" 

Ms Nor Aisyah, a 33-year-old homemaker with five children who lives in a two-room rental flat in Bedok, recently bought a portable air conditioner, too, for around S$500.

This was very expensive for her, but she feels her children, aged six to 15, need it. The younger ones have become more susceptible to the common cold and fevers since the weather got hotter, she said, falling sick twice a month lately as infections easily spread in their close quarters.

Since the purchase, her electricity bills have doubled to around S$50 a week because she runs the portable air conditioner for around three hours every night, she said, which eats into her budget for groceries and medical expenses. 

Staying cool is also a medical necessity for Ms Rosnah Md Tahir, 51, a retiree who lives in a two-room rental flat in Upper Boon Keng, as her diabetes makes her perspire easily, which then causes her to get heat rashes. 

She has started to bathe three to four times a day to keep cool, and runs two fans all day, causing her water and electricity bills to rise by S$50 a month.

“It’s very hot and everything is expensive, so for people with low incomes, it does strain them. Even as we have received more rebates (from the Government) and we try to save, (prices) continue to go up,” said Ms Rosnah.

For Ms Marlina Yased, a 45-year-old community worker who lives in a two-room rental flat with a family of six, creative solutions are the only means of staying cool. 

She puts ice cubes in spray bottles to cast water on the walls on hot days, which goes some way towards cooling the flat, although on some days the heat makes the water evaporate instantaneously, she said.

“Outside it can be 38 degrees, but inside it is 42 degrees, because we’re covered by solar panels and the water tank is right above (our unit). The tap water (feels) like boiling water after 10am,” said Ms Marlina.

In her family's small space, Ms Marlina said tensions inevitably rise on hotter days, as the “heat is doubled” when she cooks, and she has noticed her daughters also feeling more frustrated as there are more limits to how girls and women can adapt their dressing to the weather.

“Men can wear boxers (when it’s hot), but if we women want to do the same and go outside, people will complain.”

Meanwhile, those who work outdoors say the heat has affected their earnings.

Food delivery rider Peter Yeo, 52, is not a rental flat tenant but his work requires him to be exposed to the weather most of the time.

When the NEA ultraviolet index hit extreme levels in March, he decided to work at night, as the sun made his skin feel “very painful”. But this caused his earnings to dip.

“My earnings were affected tremendously as the midnight orders may (involve) very far pickups, and I have to reject the orders,” said Mr Yeo, who carries out deliveries on a power-assisted bike. 

MOST VULNERABLE AND SENSITIVE

Ms Siti Nurani Salim, founder of Project Goodwill Aid, a volunteer group that conducts food distribution exercises in rental estates, has received more complaints from residents about the weather since February. 

The organisation has been assisting households to get fans and provides financial aid by topping up beneficiaries’ Pay-As-You-Use (PayU) accounts for their electricity bills.

“It’s too hot, there are not enough fans for their homes. Some actually ask for portable coolers but we advise them that it will (lead to much higher) electricity bills,” said Ms Nurani. 

Being restricted to low-cost cooling solutions that are less effective, such vulnerable populations are disproportionately affected during periods of extreme heat, said Associate Professor Jason Lee, who is director of the Heat Resilience and Performance Centre at the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine in the National University of Singapore (NUS).

Additionally, many low-income individuals usually take on menial jobs which require “long-term exposure to extreme weather conditions”, he noted.

They also have a higher tendency to work extremely hard to meet job-related quotas, even at the risk of their health, said Assoc Prof Lee.

Agreeing, a spokesperson from SG Climate Rally, which organised a rally that saw over 1,400 attendees last September, said that climate change exposes low-income groups to “additional vulnerabilities” as many do not have the protection of working in an air-conditioned environment.

“Their low income reduces the extent to which these communities can deal with the challenges posed by climate change. Rising food prices due to climate change-induced crop failures hurt lower-income families the most, because spending on necessities like food takes up a larger share of their budget,” said the spokesperson.

Lower-income families are also more sensitive to the costs associated with mitigating the heat, as utility bills tend to take up a larger percentage of their household expenses, said Associate Professor Alberto Salvo, deputy head of research at the department of Economics at NUS.

A 2018 study by Assoc Prof Salvo, which analysed the utility bills of over 100,000 households here, found that low-income households consumed much more water as temperatures rise. 

This is likely because lower-income families tend to rely on water, through taking more frequent, longer showers, to beat the heat, as they may not have air conditioning units or find them costly to operate. 

More affluent households, by contrast, reflected a marked increase in electricity demand and no significant change in water consumption when temperatures rise.

A forthcoming study looking at how heat fluctuations affect economic activity in Singapore has found increased attendance and commuting to workplaces, malls and more air-conditioned schools on hotter days, particularly by low-income residents with limited access to cooling measures at home, said Assoc Prof Salvo.

This shows that public infrastructure should be designed to help more vulnerable communities beat the heat in the long run, and more resources could be allocated to providing cooling facilities in common spaces that are accessible to all, experts said.

For example, free-to-use air-conditioned community spaces like public libraries and community centres near rental estates, similar to the “haze sanctuaries” proposed in the event of extreme haze, could provide students and outdoor workers some relief in critically hot moments, such as the afternoon. 

WHAT AUTHORITIES ARE DOING

In response to TODAY's queries to MSE and the Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF), a Government spokesperson said that the authorities adopt a science-based and proactive heat resilience strategy by:

• Implementing national-level cooling strategies, such as intensifying greenery and orientating blocks to optimise wind flow
• Strengthening the community’s resilience to adapt to heat and
• Deepening its scientific understanding of the impact of rising temperatures. 

The spokesperson pointed to the Heat Stress Advisory published in July 2023 as one way to strengthen the community’s resilience to heat.

There is also the myENV app, which Singaporeans can use to monitor the prevailing heat stress levels before heading outdoors.

To increase scientific understanding of changing weather, initiatives such as the Cooling Singapore 2.0 project are studying the impact of heat on different segments of the population, such as the elderly and children. It also assesses the effectiveness of various cooling strategies, such as the application of cool paints on the exterior of buildings.

As for what is being done to help households defray utility bills, the Government spokesperson noted that eligible Singaporean households living in HDB flats can offset their utility expenses with the GST Voucher – U-Save and the Assurance Package (AP) U-Save.

U-Save rebates for financial year 2024 are disbursed in the months of April, July, October this year and January next year. In total, as announced in Budget 2024, eligible households will receive up to $950 in U-Save rebates this financial year.

HDB households may also use climate vouchers provided under the Climate Friendly Households Programme, which offers HDB households S$300 worth of vouchers to offset the cost of buying climate-friendly appliances.

Families in greater need who cannot meet their daily living expenses can receive additional assistance via ComCare, which provides clients with monthly cash assistance and help with their utility expenses, if needed, after accounting for U-Save rebates.

"The actual quantum of ComCare assistance is derived based on each family’s needs, so it will vary across families," the spokesperson said. "ComCare clients who need more support can approach their nearest Social Service Office, where officers will look into how to assist the household holistically."

MSF regularly reviews the ComCare assistance quanta to ensure that they remain relevant and adequate to meet the needs of lower-income families, the spokesperson added.