From the ST:

No playgrounds or covered walkways in new HDB estates. Nor any barbecue pits. New flats should have very basic floor tiles, meanwhile.

It is hardly the usual call from Members of Parliament (MPs), who tend to push for upgrading in their constituencies. But two among their ranks are making the call for “no-frills” housing.

According to Dr Lim Wee Kiak and Ms Lee Bee Wah, this should be an option for home buyers and one way to provide more affordable housing.

When he first raised this in Parliament on Friday, Dr Lim gave the example of flat prices in the 1970s: S$15,000 and S$20,000 for a three-room and four-room flat respectively. A graduate with a starting salary of S$1,000 could pay off his apartment with 15 to 25 months of his pay, he said.

The two MPs did not actually use the word “slums”, but given their description of what would constitute lower cost housing, I couldn’t help but have a vision of Singapore’s future slums should their ridiculous idea become reality.

I doubt these two MPs actually live in HDB flats to begin with. And I wonder if they got their facts right – covered walkways and barbeque pits in HDB neighbourhoods don’t seem to be factored into the cost of HDB flats if I understand correctly – I thought these costs are covered by town council funds? Even if they are indeed factored  into the cost, I would think they won’t cost each homeowner much and every neighbourhood ought to have some basic amenities anyway.

To begin with, I don’t think HDB flats and neighbourhoods are anywhere near luxurious in the first place. “No frills” housing? Do those MPs really believe that HDB flats nowadays have lots of “value-added” features? How about making doors optional to lower building costs further? Perhaps we should revert to the 1970s standards when there are no elevators (and when noodles costs just $0.50 or $1 a bowl, and bus rides probably cost just ten or twenty cents).

Further, I think the MPs don’t even know how much it costs to build HDB flats vs the selling price in the first place – they are kind of implying that the government is selling HDB flats at near cost price when it obviously isn’t the case. Assuming there are 250 3-room flats in a block, and each unit costs $150k (selling price)… does it really cost HDB $37.5 million to build the flats? What is the profit margin HDB is making on a block of flats, and how much of the $37.5 million actually goes towards land costs, given that each block of flats don’t really take up a lot of land? I argue that the only solution to make HDB housing affordable, is to either reduce the surpluses that HDB earns on selling flats, or for the Government to reduce land prices in HDB neighbourhoods. The same way that SLA can make a piece of land become worthless overnight by “rezoning” it.

Kinda gives me the shudders to think that some of our MPs don’t really know what’s going on although they are in more ‘privileged’ positions. I don’t claim to know, but I think an educated guess will tell us that the main issue is not about having frills or no frills, because I don’t think BBQ pits and covered walkways cost that much to build… but about Government policy towards HDB housing prices.

The MPs also suggested that upgrades can be added later by the homeowners when they have the financial ability to do so. That is a badly thought out idea. I am sure it costs HDB a lot less to engage a contractor to provide decent quality tiles in bulk to all flats in a neighbourhood, compared to having individual homeowners approaching contractors on their own.

Another example of having people detached from the grassroots suggesting impractical solutions. Why do we pay them $13k a month for them to advocate downgrading our living standards? I don’t think cutting corners is the solution to Singaporeans’ housing woes – rather, more subsidies and financial aid should be provided for those who are unable to afford the cost of HDB flats. Or, more importantly, a review of HDB pricing policy should be done.

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