Singapore HDB urged to be more compassionate in arrears cases

Singapore HDB urged to be more compassionate in arrears cases

By Chio Su-Mei,

SINGAPORE: The Housing and Development Board (HDB) came under the spotlight in Parliament on Tuesday with MP Ong Kian Min urging it to exercise compassion in cases of mortgage arrears.

The MP for Tampines GRC said that while the lower income group in other countries could move to cheaper housing, Singaporeans do not have that option as HDB flats are already the cheapest form of housing.

He recounted how nine families in his constituency approached him for help on Monday night, having received compulsory acquisition notices from HDB due to mortgage arrears.

Among them was 53-year-old Judy Mitchell, a single parent with a working daughter and an aged mother.

“When I lost my job, I had a hard time finding a job. A lot of it was due to age. If I did get a job, it was not adequate to survive, but I would just take it on, so that at least I could get the momentum moving,” said Judy.

She is behind in her mortgage payments for almost six months now, and her arrears come up to almost S$11,000.

She had offered to repay the HDB some S$800 a month, but she said the housing board insisted on a repayment scheme of S$2,000 a month.

Judy said: “I would like HDB to look at my actual situation. I am the sole breadwinner in this family, and looking at what my total salary package is, (I hope) they could compromise on an amount I know I am able to pay monthly without a default, and also able to at least go to work, pay for my water and lights. This is my home. I really want to save my home.”

Mr Ong has written two appeals to the HDB on her behalf, but these have been rejected.

For now, Judy and her family are waiting a valuation of their five-room flat before deciding on their next step.

Mr Ong said even if Judy decides to sell her current flat, she would still be unable to purchase a smaller flat, and is unlikely to get a loan from HDB or a commercial bank due to her age.

“I cannot imagine in Singapore, where we pride ourselves in our home ownership policy that a family of two working adults supporting one elderly family member would have their HDB flat repossessed and be left homeless. What is our social compact? There are those among us like Mdm Judy Mitchell who are trying their best, working hard, wanting to be self-reliant. I believe the government should step in and give them a helping hand,” Mr Ong said.

The need for a more supportive housing board was also brought up by Mr Yeo Guat Kwang, an MP for Aljunied GRC.

Speaking in Mandarin, Mr Yeo touched on the problems faced by Singaporeans who have problems selling off a bigger flat to downgrade to a smaller unit.

Saying that HDB should help Singaporeans downgrade, Mr Yeo reminded the housing board that its mission is to help Singaporeans own their homes.
- CNA/so

Source : Channel NewsAsia  - 27 Feb 2008

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4-room Singapore flats available at Punggol Spring

4-room Singapore flats available at Punggol Spring

By Lynda Hong

SINGAPORE: The Housing and Development Board is offering 494 four-room flats at Punggol Spring under the Build-To-Order (BTO) System – the first BTO launch for this year.

HDB has received 278 applications so far. Interested applicants have until 17 March to apply for a unit there. Prices of units range between S$204,000 and S$259,000.

HDB advises those unsuccessful in recent sales exercises to consider applying for this and other BTO projects in the new towns, where the larger supply of flats gives buyers more choices.

Punggol Spring is within walking distance from Damai LRT station. Residents can also look forward to the upcoming Punggol Town and easy access to the MRT station and bus interchange.
- CNA/so

Source : Channel NewsAsia  - 27 Feb 2008

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Singapore HDB launches executive condo housing site in Yishun Ave 11

Singapore HDB launches executive condo housing site in Yishun Ave 11

By Margaret Perry,

SINGAPORE : The HDB is launching an executive condominium housing site in Yishun.

The land at Yishun Avenue 11 is being made available under the Reserve List System.

This means developers interested in purchasing the land, must submit their application with the minimum price they are willing to bid for the land.

The site has an area of 15,080 square metres and a gross plot ratio of 2.8.

Upon acceptance of the applications, HDB will release the land for sale by tender.

The sale has a lease term of 99 years. - CNA/ch

Source : Channel NewsAsia  - 27 Feb 2008

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Singapore SLA to move out of Shenton Way to Revenue House

Singapore SLA to move out of Shenton Way to Revenue House 

Agency cuts amount of office space it needs and will likely save on rental costs

By Fiona Chan, Property Reporter 
 
THE Singapore Land Authority (SLA) will move its offices from Shenton Way to Novena this year, freeing up precious downtown office space for the private sector.
It will take up five floors, or 6,600 sq m, at Revenue House in Thomson Road. This is about three-quarters of what it occupies currently at 8 Shenton Way - formerly known as Temasek Tower.

The move is in line with the Government’s efforts to ease the shortage of office space in the central area. The acute supply crunch, coupled with rising space demands from expanding businesses, has sent prime office rents soaring in the last year.

SLA said yesterday that it is able to cut its space requirements at Revenue House as it is moving towards space-efficient work practices.

As an added benefit, SLA is also likely to save on rental costs with the relocation, property consultants said.

SLA said it will be paying ‘market rent’ for the space at Revenue House, owned by the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (Iras). This is likely to be in the ’single-digit’ per sq ft (psf), said Mr Donald Han, managing director of property consultancy Cushman & Wakefield.

In contrast, asking rents at 8 Shenton Way are $11 to $12 psf - roughly what SLA would have had to pay to renew its lease there.

The 24-storey Revenue House, Iras’ headquarters, is now full, so information on its asking rent is not available.

Other buildings in the area go for as little as $9 psf, depending on their age, said Mr Han.

Goldhill Plaza, which is about 30 years old, offers single-digit rents. Newer buildings such as United Square and Novena Square are said to be asking for $10.50 to $11.50 psf.

Revenue House, which opened in 1996, is likely to command ‘high single-digit rents’ psf, Mr Han estimated.

He said prime office rents in Novena are not much lower than in some downtown buildings as the area is becoming popular with multinational corporations that do not need to be in the heart of the city.

However, SLA may get a bulk discount in Revenue House. The space was set aside by Iras, which may have decided not to renew the leases of some tenants when they expired, Mr Han said.

Other agencies moving out of the Central Business District include the Infocomm Development Authority and the Economic Development Board.

Fittingly, SLA is one of the state departments tasked with tackling the office crunch by leasing out the vacant properties it manages. It has tendered out 104,000 sq m of space to meet immediate office needs.

The agency will release another 32,300 sq ft of space in the current quarter, including the former Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore office in Upper Changi Road North and the former Siglap-Changi Community Centre.
Source : Straits Times  - 27 Feb 2008

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A place for residents - and birds and trees - Singapore

A place for residents - and birds and trees  - Singapore

Part of Sungei Ulu Pandan woodland to be cleared for flats, but nature lovers’ concerns also heeded
By Tania Tan 
BEST OF BOTH WORLDS: HDB promises a ‘green buffer’ separating the residential area from the woodland.
 
THEY wanted to save the birds and the trees.
The Housing Board needed the area to build five new blocks of flats to replace old ones.

The 1,330 people who signed a petition to save the flora and fauna in the Sungei Ulu Pandan woodland did not get their way.

A part of the area will be cleared, with work having begun last month.

But the HDB, heeding the views of nature lovers, has promised a ‘green buffer” of about 30 trees in a 30m strip separating the proposed residential area from the woodland.

It has also pledged to clear the area in stages so that birds and other animals can migrate to adjacent wooded areas.

The petitioners, ranging from students and retirees to architects and scientists, wrote to the Prime Minister earlier this month. They said they ‘truly value the presence and continued existence of this little remaining woodland’, and that its destruction would ‘be a great loss to our community and the nation’.

The construction will uproot around 150 trees in the 3.7ha stretch, which is tucked away next to Commonwealth Avenue West. There, some trees are almost 40 years old.

And a study of the area by The Nature Society last year uncovered many bird species, including a pair of endangered changeable hawk eagles, which call the woodland home.

But the area is also needed for Ghim Moh residents affected by the Selective En-Bloc Redevelopment Scheme (Sers).

The HDB had announced plans in 2006 for new two- to five-room flats for almost 1,000 households, to replace blocks in the area that were over 30 years old. Construction is slated for completion in 2011.

A check with the HDB revealed that it had no other suitable sites for the project.

Dr Kennedy Chew, an IT researcher who helped to coordinate the petition, conceded that new flats were needed.

‘But we are hoping that the Government will consider moving the development somewhere else nearby instead,’ added Dr Chew, a long-time resident of the area.

Dr Ho Hua Chew, who chairs the Nature Society’s conservation committee, said: ‘The woodland provides a home for birds that have otherwise been displaced in this urban jungle.’ There are only about five known changeable hawk eagle nesting sites in Singapore, he added.

But Mr Christopher de Souza, an MP for the Holland-Bukit Timah GRC and the area’s custodian, said the development was a much-needed one for the Ghim Moh precinct and one that many residents were looking forward to.

The site had been chosen, he said, as it was near the blocks that are to be demolished under Sers.

Nearly four in 10 of the area’s affected residents are elderly people who have lived there for decades. They want to continue residing among friends and family.

The HDB, responding to queries, said the eagles’ nest was not within the site, and it is working with the National Parks Board to ensure the nest’s well-being.

Said Mr de Souza: ‘We hope to achieve the best of both worlds
 

Source : Straits Times  - 27 Feb 2008

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Cut Singapore income tax to beat inflation, boost economy

Cut Singapore income tax to beat inflation, boost economy 
 
THE Government has been urged to cut personal income tax rates as a way of helping Singaporeans deal directly with the rising cost of living.
In making the call, Ms Lee Bee Wah (Ang Mo Kio GRC) said such a cut ‘will give them a more direct dosage of medicine to deal with inflation and this can, in turn, help to stimulate the economy further’.

It is a ‘better permanent solution’, she added, contrasting it to tax rebates.

She had earlier suggested that these rebates be made a continual feature of the annual Budget, which would be an improvement over the one-off rebate given this year.

The new Budget gave a 20 per cent income tax rebate, capped at $2,000, for the 2008 Year of Assessment instead of a much-anticipated permanent cut in income tax rates.

Ms Lee also felt that the lower income tax rates would attract talent to work in Singapore rather than in other places such as Hong Kong.

The Chinese territory has lower tax rates. Its top marginal personal tax rate is 15 per cent - 5 percentage points lower than Singapore’s top rate.

Source : Straits Times  - 27 Feb 2008

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Rent relief for businesses? - Singapore

Rent relief for businesses?  - Singapore
COSTLY SPACE: Blistering rent increases have hit small businesses hard and Dr Loo suggests that a double tax deduction be given to help them cope.
 
‘I wonder if the Finance Minister would consider giving businesses a little short-term help by allowing double deduction of their rental expenses.
This would effectively help them reduce 18 per cent of their high rental costs and help those whose rents were revised upwards sharply in the last year. This may actually help marginal business stay afloat…

I believe such a measure will also be helpful to the many retailers with high shop rents who may have to face lower demand when the economy slows this year…This rental assistance should be reviewed annually and be removed when supply comes on stream and rent becomes more affordable.’

NOMINATED MP LOO CHOON YONG, urging the Government to alleviate the pain caused by high rents
 
Source : Straits Times  - 27 Feb 2008

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Singapore CPF Life: Concern for those who fall through the cracks

Singapore CPF Life: Concern for those who fall through the cracks 

Low-income earners and housewives with little CPF savings should not be left out, say MPs

By Li Xueying 
 
CLEANER Chua Ah Yan earns $600 a month - and has all of $700 in her Central Provident Fund (CPF) account.
It falls far short of the $40,000 needed in her account to pay the premiums for the CPF Life annuities scheme, aimed at helping Singaporeans prepare for old age.

Five MPs yesterday stood to highlight the plight of those such as 44-year-old Madam Chua, who fall through the cracks of the system, and suggested how the safety net for them can be strengthened.

Madam Halimah Yacob (Jurong GRC), for instance, suggested that the Government re-assess the policy of lower CPF contribution rates for older, low-wage workers.

Mr Ang Mong Seng (Hong Kah GRC), in turn, championed the cause of housewives, saying the Government should open CPF accounts for those who ‘toil quietly, day and night, for no salaries, leave, bonuses and CPF’.

Leaving her sentiments in no doubt was Nominated MP Kalyani Mehta.
‘The lack of universal coverage of CPF Life has strong implications for the total safety net for (the) poor and vulnerable,’ she said.

‘The Government cannot abrogate its responsibility towards the citizens who belong to these categories.’

Madam Halimah, the deputy secretary-general of the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC), said that while CPF Life resulted in a ’stronger and tighter safety net’, it left out low-income workers such as Madam Chua.

It is not an insignificant group as they comprise 25 per cent of active CPF members who turn 55 in 2013, the first batch to take part in the scheme, she added.

To remedy the situation, she suggested that the Government relook the policy which last year reduced the CPF contribution rates for older workers. This was done so they would get a higher take-home pay and employers are given an incentive to hire them.

But, said Madam Halimah, ‘that policy somehow contradicts the CPF Life scheme, and so I would like to ask the Government for an assessment on how it would, in the long term, affect our low-income earners’ ability to save up for CPF Life and prepare for their own retirement’.

Asking for more direct aid, Mr Ang suggested that the Government open CPF accounts for housewives and put in a one-off sum of $1,000 for them.

‘This sum should go only towards the payment of CPF Life premiums,’ he said in Mandarin. ‘Hopefully their children or grandchildren will help top it up further.’

Also taking up the cudgels on behalf of women were Ms Lee Bee Wah (Ang Mo Kio GRC) and Mr Yeo Guat Kwang (Aljunied GRC), who urged the Government to help older women, as many had little education and would have difficulty finding jobs.

Related to this, Madam Halimah said the NTUC’s Back To Work programme launched last year aims to place 2,000 women in the workforce: ‘In the face of rising costs and a widening income gap…women play an important role in helping to strengthen the family’s finances and helping build up the reserve that is so critical particularly during rainy days.’

But mindsets must also change, she said, recounting an incident where a company’s human resource director was visited by an angry husband who warned her not to hire his wife.

Professor Mehta, among other things, took issue with CPF Life’s lower payouts for women in view of their longer life expectancies.

This may be logical from the actuary’s perspective, she said, adding: ‘But from the social policy perspective wherein ‘equity’ is held to be of high value in a government’s banding of its citizens, the discrimination of females in this instance is unacceptable.’

An older woman with the same needs as her husband, such as medical bills, will find the difference in payouts significant, she said.

Ultimately, the fundamental value of the scheme was appreciated by MPs, with Mr Ang asking why it will start only in five years’ time.

‘Can we move in the next one to two years, so more Singaporeans can benefit from it?’ he asked.

Mr Yeo spoke of the need to strengthen public education about the scheme, as many were confused about it.

Doing so will be of help to Madam Chua and her family - if she does get to take it up.

Her 13-year-old daughter, Chow Mei Qi, tried to apply for a job stuffing mailboxes with fliers to supplement the family’s income a year ago.

‘But I was rejected because I was underage,’ she said.
Source : Straits Times  - 27 Feb 2008

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Singapore HDB launches 494-unit Punggol project

Singapore HDB launches 494-unit Punggol project 

Four-room flats in BTO project meant to meet high demand; 278 applications so far

By Fiona Chan, Property Reporter 
 
THE Housing Board has released another new build-to-order (BTO) project in Punggol to meet surging demand from house hunters.
It is offering 494 flats, all four-room units, at Punggol Spring - the first batch of 4,500 BTO flats planned for the first half of this year.

Already, 278 applications have come in for the flats, following their launch yesterday. They are priced at between $204,000 and $259,000 - about two-thirds the current price of resale flats in Punggol.

Industry players expect demand to continue to be strong, given the overwhelming response to recent HDB flat releases. Earlier this month, almost 10,000 hopeful buyers applied for just 278 surplus flats in Toa Payoh and Tampines.

By the time the BTO exercise for Punggol Spring closes on March 17, the flats could be four times oversubscribed, predicted Mr Mohamed Ismail, chief executive of property agency PropNex.

To address the shortage of flats - estimates show only 2,000 surplus units in stock - the HDB has recommended that would-be buyers consider resale flats and BTO projects.

It will release another 4,000 BTO flats between now and June, mainly in Punggol and Sengkang. The HDB also said it still has 711 flats available from recent BTO launches in Punggol and Sengkang, including more than 200 each in Punggol Vista, Fernvale Vista and Coral Spring.

But the HDB’s last four BTO projects have all seen at least twice the number of applicants than flats available.

The most recent were Damai Grove in Punggol and Jade Spring @ Yishun, which were released late last year. There were 1,888 applications for the 738 flats in Damai Grove and 1,908 applications for Jade Spring’s 384 flats.

PropNex’s Mr Ismail said that for many first-time buyers with relatively low income, BTO flats have become their only housing option as home prices soar.

But Mr Eugene Lim, the assistant vice-president of ERA Realty Network, pointed out that more BTO projects will not address the immediate housing shortage, as they take a few years to be constructed.

‘BTO is a longer-term solution,’ he said. ‘The segment of buyers that go through BTO may not be the same as the 10,000 applicants looking for leftover flats that are available sooner.’

Punggol Spring is expected to be completed by 2011. It is located within walking distance of the Damai LRT station, next to Punggol Secondary School and near the future town centre where the MRT station and bus interchange are located.

Source : Straits Times  - 27 Feb 2008

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What homes can offer and for how much -Singapore

What homes can offer and for how much  -Singapore

By Salma Khalik, Health Correspondent 
 
THE Government’s move to have private nursing homes bid for subsidised patients raises the question that this was because the charity sector didn’t have enough beds for them.
Not so.

The 29 nursing homes run by voluntary welfare organisations (VWOs) have 250 empty beds in all. And not all their patients are subsidised by the Government. Six of them, including All Saints Home (Hougang) and Kwong Wai Shiu Hospital, are so well able to raise their own funds that their patients need no government help at all.

Then why the need to use the private sector? There are two reasons.

One, the surfeit of empty beds afflicts the private sector too. With six new nursing homes started up in the past few years, the 30 homes have close to 3,500 beds, including 950 empty ones.

Two, the Ministry of Health (MOH) is using the surplus room that private homes have to set some benchmarks for the subsidies they dole out to patients at charity homes.

The amount charged by charity homes varies greatly, as do their level and standard of service, and even the quality of the home itself.

Some homes are extremely well-run and organised, with patients getting more than basic care. At other homes, however, there are stories of how patients sometimes even miss meals because they were ‘forgotten’ in the rush of things.

Similarly, bedridden patients at some homes are more prone to getting bed sores, and have a harder time getting rid of them. These sores come about when a person spends too much time in one position. The skin gets damaged and can get infected. If not treated promptly, it could lead to death.

At a time when the work of charities is under scrutiny, it is not unexpected for MOH to ask if the subsidies are used in the most efficient way possible.

At the low end, VWO-run homes may charge ‘full’ paying patients as little as $200 to $300 a month for a dormitory bed. The majority charge between $900 and $1,500 a month, though a few charge more than $3,000 a month.

Whatever the amount charged, the MOH subsidy per patient remains the same. It uses two parameters: How much care the patient needs and the patient’s family income.

Charity homes are there because well-meaning people want to help the poor. Private homes are there to make money, charging $800 to more than $4,000 a month. In other words, the lower end is even cheaper than what most VWOs now charge.

Over the past few months, MOH has been talking to nursing homes about how to develop key performance indicators. It offered to help the less well-organised improve the care they give to patients.

But it is difficult to decide the level of care that should form the base for nursing homes. How much is enough, how much is too much or too little?

MOH is asking the private sector to take care of only patients who are either wheelchair-bound or bedridden.

It stipulates that for the first group, there must be one staff member to four patients while for the more dependent patients, the ratio has to be one to two.

To get these patients, the private homes will need to state clearly the sort of service and level of care they will provide - and the price they want to charge for that.

It includes such details as the number of meals patients get a day, value-added services like emotional support, dietitian’s advice and recreational therapy.

The tender exercise also means that the market rate for good nursing-home care can finally be gauged. Successful bids are likely to set the benchmark for the whole industry.

The logic: If a private home can provide care at a certain cost and still make a profit, then charity homes with no bottom lines to worry about should be able to provide the same level of care for that price.

Source : Straits Times  - 27 Feb 2008

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