Budget 2023 > Latest > Commentary
Communal and co-living housing
Mr Chairman, communes and co-living are housing formats where people come together to live, share their resources and responsibilities for fostering mutual support . We can optimise our land used for housing with these two concepts.
An example is “mommune” – a commune for mums. This model exists in both Japan and Hong Kong where single mothers and their children live together as a large communal family. They pool their domestic and childcare-related resources to reduce the economic burdens of single parenthood. By splitting chores, finances and babysitting duties, single parents have more bandwidth to explore enriching experiences to benefit their children. We should explore this model and apply it to other groups which need extra support to manage their day-to-day lives, such as families with special needs children and members who are persons with disability.
Co-living can be for singles. Co-living apartments can be built for people to have their own private rooms but share common spaces, such as pantry, kitchen, living room and laundry space. This creates physical social interaction opportunities for a generation of people who have grown more used to online interaction. For all we know, it may also improve our marriage rates!
Private companies, such as Hamlet and Cove, already offer co-living options near the city, albeit at a premium price. Why not have it available as public housing, too, for young adults to access lower priced housing on short leases, while living amongst their peer groups with similar lifestyle preferences? At the same time, we can co-locate these singles’ precincts with community care apartments for the elderly and communes for various needs families – creating convenient opportunities for them to volunteer near their homes. Ground-up initiatives, in the likes of Kampung Kakis and SG Assist, have shown that Singaporeans love to help out and they love to help out conveniently.
Young entrepreneurs can also be given spaces in these localities to offer new products and services, creating a space for social entrepreneurship and business incubation.
We have the opportunity at the Paya Lebar Airbase development to pilot these models and a new way forward for Singapore’s housing. I urge the Government agencies working on this project to explore these suggestions and consult interested Singaporeans with relevant experience in these fields to advance these ideas.
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