One of the more unusual things I did on this trip was to visit the HDB (Housing Development Board) Hub. I hoped to learn something about how Singapore has pretty much solved its housing problems. In the event I didn’t quite manage that, but it was interesting in a number of ways.
First, though, a bit of a recap. When Singapore became fully independent in 1965, it was not the place it is now. While it wasn’t exactly ‘3rd World’ it definitely wasn’t 1st world. It was a place of contrasts. On the one hand there was former colonial housing (think tropical bungalows) and modern businesses, and on the other hand there were traditional Asian enterprises: shophouses and waterfront go-downs on the one hand, and a number of traditional Malay villages or Kampongs. These were all badly over-crowded, had poor or non-existent sanitation, no connection to other central services – you can imagine the picture. Today these have all gone, apart from those shophouses and occasional Kampong house that have been preserved and re-purposed, and the population mainly lives in high-rise apartment complexes. Some of these are privately-built, but the great majority of the complexes, housing about 80% of the population, are provided by the HDB. And they work! – they are clean; they are well-maintained; there is no crime (actually, that’s true of Singapore generally); and there’s some strange way in which although these apartments are publicly provided, they are in fact individually owned.
I don’t know the full details as to how they are financed. I do know that in practice there are two housing markets, for private developments and HDB apartments; that prices in the former are anything up to twice those in the latter; that the HDB market is controlled – there are eligibility criteria to be able to buy an HDB apartment, either from the HDB itself or from an HDB apartment owner moving out (and, I gather, there are very harsh penalties for anyone breaking the law regarding eligibility or price disclosure when buying or selling an HDB apartment); and there are clever ways in which young couples (it’s very difficult for a single young person to be eligible for an HDB apartment) are able to afford the deposit on their apartment. It seems that they can in some way borrow from, or get credit against, their social security account, into which they have to pay throughout their working lives.
So I went to the HDB Hub. This is in Toa Payoh, one of Singapore’s satellite townships. There are a number of these, each housing between 50,000 and 150,000 people. Typically they consist of a town centre (local shops, a food court, etc), a school (or schools), perhaps a local hospital (certainly a generously-sized clinic), sports and leisure facilities, and lots of HDB apartment blocks. There might also be employment in the townships, e.g. offices. (I imagine that office space is cheaper to rent in the townships than in the city centre towers.) Above all, there will be good transport links – at least one MRT station in the town centre (and possibly others elsewhere in the township) and local bus services from the town centre out into the housing districts.
I had a wander round Toa Payoh. This was interesting – seeing actual Singaporeans in their own locality, talking and generally just living their lives. As with all of Singapore, the great majority of the population are ethnic Chinese, and in Toa Payoh the only language you could hear was Mandarin. That said, when I bought my lunch in the food court the person serving me had no difficulty dealing with me in English. This was handy, as my Mandarin is a bit rusty…
After a while I went into the HDB Hub. I had hoped that there would be a section explaining the history of the HDB and recounting its successes, but unfortunately not. Indeed, it was actually just a huge housing office, so I felt a bit out of place. But I found a floor where there were example display apartments laid out for inspection, and I explored that. It was fascinating.
There were five show apartments – two ‘2 Room’ apartments (one very small, the other a little less so), which it seems were a living/dining space +a bedroom, and then successively a 3 room, 4 room and finally a 5 room apartment.
It’s fair to say that they were all very small. Everything you needed was there, but reduced in size. Above all, there was little storage. Forgot having a library of hundreds of books, or collections of pottery or other knick-knacks – there was nowhere to either store or display them. Indeed, there wasn’t much in the way of clothes storage either. (That said, there’s no need for separate Summer/Winter wardrobes in Singapore – the temperature will be between 30º and 32º every day of the year, and there is a good chance of rain most afternoons.) But it would be hard for someone used to more space to adapt to them.
Anyway, I took a load of pictures, which I’ve arranged below by apartment type. I’ve included a floor plan of the apartment type in each section so you can map the images of the rooms onto the plan.
First, the small 2 room apartment:
This was almost a studio – you can just about see that the door into the sleeping area was sliding. not opening – there was no room for that. The cooking space was out on the balcony.
Next, the slight larger 2 room apartment:
Again, just a sliding door into the sleeping area. But there is now a proper dining table with four chairs – the dining table in the smaller apartment had just two seats at it. Notice the clothes dryer that can be lowered from the kitchen ceiling – i remember seeing more basic versions of that in houses in the 1950s when I was very young.
I’m afraid my pictures of the 3 Room apartment weren’t very good, so we’ll move straight to the 4 room one. This has three quite small bedrooms, and the living space is still quite compressed, but the kitchen area has now grown. But this apartment is intended for four people…..
Finally there’s the 5 room. This is still 3 bedrooms, but there’s now enough separation between the living space and kitchen/dining area to consider that to be a different room:
This was an interesting visit. The HDB has been wonderfully successful – basically, Singaporeans can find somewhere good to live (albeit not palatial). They seem to have avoided all the mistakes (‘Right to Buy’?) and successive Singaporean governments can be proud of this achievement. It certainly makes you ask hard questions about public housing policy in the UK over the last 50-odd years.
This is fascinating info. You’re right, in comparison UK public housing policy leaves a lot to be desired. That said, though, British people seem to want to live in houses with a garden so wonder if apartments like this – however good they are – would be successful in the UK!
Well, there have been places in the UK where they’ve worked. The obvious one is the Barbican estate in London – superb brutalist architecture, and very liveable flats. The key there was that the estate was always very, very well maintained. And of course it has excellent transport links! It’s almost all privately-owned now, and the flats go for for astronomical prices.