I do wonder though… how much responsibilities the individual and families need to bear for housing before turning to the gahmen and expect a low cost housing option.

I do some volunteer work and have come across cases where an elderly person is in need of $ and shelter. Upon questioning, empirically, about 2/3 of them have children who aren’t making that much and are living in small flats so they ‘cannot’ house their own parents.

My mom was 1 of 8 kids, all 8 kids had to share 1 room. People back then were more frugal and lived more simple lives, now it seems that their own room, computer, ipod, handphone are a birth right and taking care of the poor and the elderly is the business of the gahmen.

The question is, do we have enough affordable housing to cater for those people earning 2k or less a month?

HDB prices have gone up, even with direct purchase from Gahmen. But since the over construction of the late 90s, I think the Gahmen is operating on a more needs based model (BTO) and as a taxpayer, I think the HDB is being prudent.

As a HDB seeker (1st time) I am nonetheless irritated that new flats costs more. (A few years ago, a EA in Jurong was ~$270k, now, the same EA is ~$330k, or 22% over ~2 years only). For better or worse, the HDB prices are still varying with the market, albeit less volatile. However, I do understand that HDB cannot operate on a myopic time scale and have to think long term.

I’m grateful that at least in Singapore there is the option to BTO or Design Built and Buy available for the masses. In other countries, the gahmen let you live in the slum or on the streets.