Budget 2024 > Latest > Commentary
Ms Carrie Tan (Nee Soon): Mr Chairman, there is great comfort in having a nice home to rest and recharge in – physically, emotionally and mentally. For some people, a restful home may be an elusive concept if there is frequent conflict, arguments or violence in their families.
The roughly 50,000 households under the PRS today, do not have this luxury of a restful home because of space constraints. Another group is young singles below 35 that I meet often in my Meet-the-People sessions, who are unable to have a restful home because of chronic toxicity or conflicts in their familial relationships. The third group are single parents, who struggle to find resources for care in order to hold down jobs.
Local research has shown that the causes of inequality and poverty in Singapore is more complicated than we assume. More Singaporeans now recognise and have empathy for the physical and mental hazards of public rental living. An informal poll I conducted on my Facebook page, revealed overwhelming support for more to be done for public rental housing.
The Government can provide better options – co-living options for singles, communal living formats and better-designed public rental flats, so that restful, pleasant and supportive homes can be made available to everyone.
As I have shared in my earlier adjournment Motion on this topic, experience in other countries have shown that living environments have the power to increase self-esteem and confidence which in turn motivates individuals, contributing to positive rehabilitative outcomes. Commune-based living formats can foster effective mutual support and resource-sharing for those, who otherwise struggle by themselves, such as single parent families.
For young people, living apart from their families of origin can also help to individuate themselves successfully and healthily. Individuation is the development of a clearer sense of self, separate from our parents and others around them. It is critical in our maturing process and one’s mental well-being.
Housing, therefore, can help us achieve social mobility and well-being outcomes, far beyond just serving the physical function of a shelter. We need to make affordable and pleasant housing options accessible for people in all life stages and circumstances.
I recommend MND to offer more co-living rental housing options for singles at all ages, and de-stigmatise public rental housing from the current image that is, “only for the poor”. The rent subsidies can be tiered according to each tenant’s household and income situation, with lease terms ranging from one to five years, with transition out to home ownership as the eventual goal.
That way, people of diverse backgrounds and circumstances can rent affordably when they need to, as a transition phase. This can bring benefits, such as better social integration and the pulling of diverse social capital that enhances social mobility.
Our public housing projects, such as Pinnacle@Duxton, have won international awards. I dream and I hope that our public rental housing, such as the one just down the road from it at Jalan Kukoh, will one day be no longer known as the slum of Singapore but as a rehabilitative and incubation space for those who eventually emerge from their difficult circumstances, like phoenixes from adversity.
Watch the speech here.