Public Housing in Prime Locations: Ensuring Affordability, Inclusivity and Accessibility

Image: Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA)

Last November, the Ministry of National Development (MND) first mentioned plans to redevelop and build new public housing in prime locations, such as the city centre and the Greater Southern Waterfront.

Given the prime attributes of such locations, these public housing would naturally command higher market values. This means that unrestricted resale of flats in prime locations could bump up the prices even more, making them unaffordable and increasingly out of reach for typical Singaporeans over time. To prevent gentrification of public housing in prime locations where only the wealthy can afford and to ensure that these public housing continue to reflect the diversity and inclusiveness of our housing estates, MND will be introducing a new housing model that will apply to new flats in these areas.

Over the past few months, MND has been extensively engaging Singaporeans across various stakeholder groups, from young couples to academics, to gather their views and suggestions on how public housing in prime locations can be kept affordable, inclusive and accessible for a diverse mix of Singaporeans for generations to come. To date, MND has received a wide range of ideas, each with its merits and trade-offs. As everyone has different interests and priorities, these ideas will be carefully weighed and considered under the upcoming housing model for prime locations to serve the widest public good.

Your suggestions are valuable to help MND finetune the new housing model for prime locations. If you would like to share your comments and ideas on this issue, please email to feedback@mnd.gov.sg.

More details will be shared with you in time to come.

For more information on public housing in prime locations, please refer to the resources below:

• Announcement of new public housing in prime locations by Minister Desmond Lee at COS 2021.

• Opinion piece by Minister Indranee Rajah on 10 June 2021.

• Opinion piece by Senior Minister of State Sim Ann on 17 June 2021.

• Other articles and commentaries by TODAY (22 April 2021, 4 July 2021), The Straits Times (4 March 2021, 4 July 2021) and Channel News Asia (21 March 2021).

Information accurate as at 13 July 2021