SINGAPORE: More flats will be set aside to temporarily house families, with the supply doubling to 4,000 units over the next two years, announced Senior Minister of State for National Development Sim Ann on Monday (Jun 12).
Speaking at the Institute of Policy Studies’ 35th anniversary conference, Ms Sim said the Housing and Development Board (HDB) has achieved its target of increasing the supply of flats under the Parenthood Provisional Housing Scheme (PPHS) from 800 units in 2021 to 1,800 units in 2023.
She added there will be close to 2,000 flats under the scheme by the end of this year.
The scheme helps to temporarily house families as they await the completion of their new flats.
Ms Sim also said the PPHS application rates have “come down significantly” from more than 20 times in 2021, to around three times now.
“But we understand that buyers who booked their flats in the past two years have experienced longer waiting times because of the delays caused by COVID-19. So, HDB is hard at work to increase the PPHS supply further, doubling it again to 4,000 units over the next two years,” added Ms Sim.
“We hope these efforts will bring about some relief to the young families and to support their parenthood journeys.”
During her speech, Ms Sim also said HDB is studying ways to further maximise the available pool of PPHS flats, as there is sustained demand for such flats while supply remains limited.
This includes requiring flat sharing for the larger PPHS units.
“This will allow more homebuyers awaiting their HDB flats to benefit from subsidised market rental,” added Ms Sim.