Public Housing Policy in Singapore

Cowan D & Marsh. 2001. A Two Steps Forward: Housing Policy into the New Millennium. Policy Press

The most successful, long term, low-income housing projects are those that use sustainable design and address the social, cultural, and economic needs of residents. Traditionally built low-income housing projects are associated with high crime rates and high mortality rates among the residents who live in them. They do not provide for the needs of residents, resulting in many of the problems these low-income housing projects face today. These problems range from endangerment of human life, psychological afflictions due to the high stresses that are endured by residents, disease epidemics caused by overcrowding and unsanitary living conditions (in combination with a substandard public

Many advocates and policymakers of housing for the poor believe that to achieve optimal human development of low-income households the location of the housing must be considered as well as the quality of the housing unit (Newman, 2008).

This policy brief is prepared to give some insights of the housing affordability problem in Australia. In addition, the paper also suggests some approaches in which the Government should consider in tackling the issue in the Australian context. Housing affordability always

This proposed study examines the development of housing policy and right to buy from the view of government mentality of UK. This study focused on the difficulties not only to the purchaser of council house but also to those tenants who have not purchase tenancies in UK. This proposed study also discusses the role of social housing in 21st century housing policy. Aim of this study is to provide a framework to the researcher and to identify different impacts of Right to buy scheme on housing market. Among other issues, this study also discusses that council housing gives better opportunities and provide security to the tenants with 33% to 55% discount as compared to market price.

Prior to urban renewal, Pyrmont-Ultimo had residents with similar incomes. However to achieve the goal of social equity plans were made for a mixed, high-density, medium-rise residential area. Approximately 7500 new dwellings have been constructed plus the renovation of 1400 existing dwellings. The aim was to cater for all household types such as families, couples and singles, provide affordable housing for middle to low income earners, provide residential dwellings with waterfront access and with water and city views, protect existing housing, retain a socially diverse residential population which includes all income groups, provide opportunities to live close to places of work and to create a high quality urban environment. The provision of affordable or public housing was an important aspect to consider in the process. Without some sort of intervention to provide this affordable housing, the attractiveness of living close to Sydney’s CBD would only be reserved for high income earners as dwellings would be too expensive and rent would be too high. From a social equity point of view it was therefore vital to provide

It is often easy to castigate large cities or third world countries as failures in the field of affordable housing, yet the crisis, like an invisible cancer, manifests itself in many forms, plaguing both urban and suburban areas. Reformers have wrestled passionately with the issue for centuries, revealing the severity of the situation in an attempt for change, while politicians have only responded with band aid solutions. Unfortunately, the housing crisis easily fades from our memory, replaced by visions of homeless vets, or starving children. Metropolis magazine explains that “…though billions of dollars are spent each year on housing and development programs worldwide, ? At least 1 billion people

The chapter of this book takes us on a tour of our government and housing policies through the twentieth century and how they affected our lives. The first time the American government started intervening with housing was in 1918 when Congress gave 110 million for two programs for housing war workers. Some people, like Senator William Calder of New York, felt that the government was not made to build houses and saw early housing acts like these as opposite to what the government should be doing with it 's power. Despite these feelings

Furthermore, lack of affordable housing has become an issue for additional reasons. 50,000 new homes were built since 1981 but only 8000 were local authority housing, and only 2000 were low income houses. This was worsened by the implementation of the ‘right to buy’ scheme, creating a surge in house prices (a 1 bedroom apartment now costs around £500,000). It could be suggested that this issue counteracts successes of the scheme, as issues still exist including 3500 homeless people in the area and the housing prices are significantly above the UK average, so they have not achieved their aim to ‘make housing affordable to all.’ However, I believe that the Docklands has been a successful example of regeneration as it is now such a significant part of the capital, with it being London’s finance capital providing not only important economic contributions, but also employment to many people in the skilled sector.

At one time, public housing had been thought of as a solution for inner city poverty, isolation, and as a basic human necessity for less well-off people (Riis 1890; Marcuse 1986b (1978); Stegman 1990). It was believed by most advocates, that good housing was humane and necessary to the well-being of all people and would greatly improve the quality of life of the people who lived in slums. They envisioned public housing as a way of fulfilling part of the states responsibility to ensure that decent, affordable housing was available for all residents of the U.S. The first national

As a result of the success of the projects made after the 1937 Housing Act, popular opinion was that public housing should be done on an even larger scale to replace the

The government is the best audience for the modification of the housing first program because it has the power and resources to make changes for the good of the citizen by the use of the law that is set to protect people’s rights and freedoms. It is an individual’s right to have access to a safe, secure home and habitable home.

Multiple reasons exist for the the lack of affordable housing. On the demand side these include population growth and increased migration to urban areas, easily accessible housing finance, tax incentives and a “strong cultural preference for owner-occupied detached houses”. On the supply side, affordability problems are exacerbated by inflexible and slow responses to the need for new housing stock, lack of infrastructure and generally inefficient planning processes and development assessment by local governments.

The public housing authority, Housing Development Board (HBD) was a very important aspect to Singapore’s basic shelter needs. In 2007, basic shelter needs were used for 3.7 million of Singapore’s population. Singapore is considered a city-state in South East Asia where the government is heavily involved. As a non-profit organization, the local government is responsible for overseeing and administering certain decisions and responsibilities of Singapore’s public housing. The Housing Development Board was mainly involved in the pricing, marketing and sales of the public housing authority (Jick & Peiperl, 2011).

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