Hazel Poa on public housing policies

The affordability and accessibility of HDB flats play a very important role in Singapore's total fertility rate, said NCMP Hazel Poa. Speaking in Parliament on Monday (Feb 6) on her motion on public housing policies, she pointed out that the Build-to-Order approach is not meeting the needs of young Singaporeans. She urged the Government to increase its supply of new flats in the immediate term. She also pointed out that the affordability of the new flats comes at the expense of retirement savings. Ms Poa said the Progress Singapore Party is proposing a different pricing model for affordable housing by selling new flats to Singaporeans without collecting the land price upfront. However, if the flat is subsequently sold by the original buyers, the land costs will then be recovered from the resale price. Ms Poa urged the Government to "pull out all the stops" by increasing the supply of flats more decisively in the immediate term and changing to a model of building for projected demand based on factors like marriage and immigration numbers.