GEO 1034B Hong Kong Housing and Real Estate

 

Solution to the inadequate housing provision in Singapore

  It is found that Singapore has suffered from the problem of inadequate housing provision, mainly due to the causes of limited supply of land and continue rising population. Therefore, the government seek effort to solve the problem in various ways. There are 4 main solutions in its plan: increase land supply, increase housing supply, population control and better use of limited resources.

  Due to the physical constraint of limited land supply, reclamation of the coastal or marshy area, has been the most significant measure to increase land supply. The most spectacular reclamation project has been the industrial and urban planning of the area of Jurong. (Fouchier et al, 1994)

  Increase supplement of land can be able to construct more buildings. After the establishment of the Housing and Development Board (HDB) in 1960, with the objectives to build and provide Public and Middle Income Housing and related facilities, it has put forward a Public Housing Scheme in 1972, (Boey, 1984)

  Housing at that time were built for meeting the basic need, which may be measured by the eligibility, affordability, waiting time and floor space standard. By 1970, the housing shortage was released. In 1984, 1.97 million inhabitants or 78 percent of the total population benefited from the Fifth 5-year building program which was completed by 1985, making Singapore one of the best housed countries in the world. (Boey,1984)

  The combined rental and maintenance charges is only about S$40, despite the 125000 waiting applicants of those who want a better housing, the urgent cases could maintain the waiting time to 1.5 to 2.5 years. Average floor floor-space per person reached at least 7.9㎡ depending on the types of flats. Indicating that Singapore has successfully meet all the requirements. (Boey, 1984)

  In order to meet the broader social objective, there associated with many supporting services and facilities. Physical Environmental Support and Service Enforcement Support is provided by the Board to make living more comfort and convenient. It  satisfied the housing need as well as the housing demand of the people.

  However, only to increase the supply of land and provision of public housing are not enough as population keeps growing. Particularly the Chinese immigrants which is the majority of the population component, and a high natural growth rate. With the constant supply of land, the original public housing scheme might not meet the need for the excess population. Therefore, there is a need to limit the growth.

  Strict control on the immigration has been imposed, particularly for the Chinese. There is also an intensive family planning program, which was succeeded by a series of comprehensive policy measures, including legal abortion, liberalized sterilization, and incentives and disincentives relating to limitation of maternity benefits, accouchement fees, tax reduction, allocation of public housing, and primary school registration. (Yeung, 1985)

  Unless with a proper planning, which can optimize use of land in a most efficient way, the problem may raise up again soon. Furthermore, along with the economic growth, there is a general rise in income level, inadequate housing provision is not limited to the problem of housing need but also the housing demand. People are now more concern their way of living, simply densified housings are likely to cause social problems, thus it will affect the perspective of the revised Concept Plan.

  Also, targeting the goal of a zero growth in population until the start of the 1990's, however, there was an sudden change in the population projection that from now on rely on an optimum population of 4 million inhabitants, this would result in a reinforcement of densities in urban areas. The newly densification dynamics in Singapore divided into 3 phases: densification in city center, voluntary redistribution of the population in the periphery, and the perspectives of the revised Concept Plan. (Fouchier al et, 1994)

  Once there is a prepared planning, it is efficient for the Singapore government to action, as it posses a strong political power. The defined start of Singapore's urban planning was in the central part through Raffles' directives. The Singapore Master Plan approved in 1958 has included the planning for the whole nation, the different stages which the development of a public housing estate, and the planning of other associated functional units were all described.

  In 1950's first planning of Queenstown Industrial and Housing Estate revealed a verticalization of collective housing with low densities. The idea soon became popular and was widely used in the later plans. The Master Plan of 1955-1958, inspired by the British town and country planning, follows this process by planning the creation of three new cities in a further periphery. Dedensification became a matter of the whole territory.

  With the birth boom after war, families with low salaries but large in size could not afford to live in a saturated city, but only to the dissemination or proliferation of residential densities in under-integrated forms in the open spaces or corridors of urban planning, at the periphery of the city and in secondary centers.

  Since then, suburbanization seemed to be a solution to the overcrowding of population with respect to the limiting supply of urban housing. By the late 1980's, nearly 90% of the population is housed by the HDB and mainly located in new towns, in the time that the mode of concentration of densities by large neo-urban poles came out to be particularly operative for the set up of the mass transportation network in proper places.

  New towns, is planned that even in a context of obvious territorial and land constraints, the densification and dedensification dynamics can achieve land saving. It also influence social control, territorial sovereignty and regional "anchorage", and is hoped to achieve the social mix in the community and prevent the "ghetto"stigma. (Boey, 1984), however with irrelevance with the topic, it is not going to mention here.

  To conclude, Singapore has developed into a high-density, high-rise mode of city, and the nature of intensive use has been determined by the physical nature. The example of Singapore is frequently use in the comparison with the case in Hong Kong, because of some share nature among the two cities.

Reference

Boey Yut Mei et al, 1984, "Housing Policies and Live Style", High-Rise, High-Density living, Singapore Professional Centre, Section 1, pp 9-24

Fouchier Vincent and Merlin Pierre, 1994, "Urban Density Brought to Its Limits: A Face of The Urban Policy of Singapore. A Southeast Asian Perspective", High Urban Densities A solution for our cities, Consulate general of France in Hong Kong, p65-76

Yeung Yue-Man, 1985, Cities That Work: Hong Kong and Singapore, Occasional Paper no.72, Dept of GEO, CUHK