<p>In Singapore, the term &quot;public housing&quot; implies the government is the developer, not necessarily the landlord. It's similar to how some people in the United Kingdom own former council properties, the government originally built the apartments and houses and rented them out for a while, then the government sold some of the dwellings to existing residents in the &quot;Right to Buy&quot; schemes of the Thatcherite government in the 1980s. Maybe Singapore had a similar program.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-06-06T07:31:17.027Z
2024-06-06T07:31:17.027Z
Costillo
<p>In Singapore, a government agency called the Housing and Development Board (HDB) builds housing (mostly apartment buildings). HDB is not meant to be profitable. It loses money every year and is subsidized from the government budget.</p>
<p>HDB ensures that its buildings have access all the standard infrastructure nearby - mass transit, retail stores, schools, medical and recreational facilities, etc before tenants move in.</p>
<p>HDB also ensures that the tenant population is diverse and no ethnic group is disproportionally overrepresented in any location (i.e. they will reject a prospective tenant in a location belonging to an ethnic group that they already have too much of).</p>
<p>About 80% of the Singapore population lives in HDB apartments.</p>
<p>The tenants have an option to sign a 99-year lease. About 90% of the tenants choose this option. They're not quite &quot;owners&quot; (the government is the owner and the landlord), but close enough with the 99-year lease - they can re-sell the apartment, hopefully at a profit. The remaining ~10% tenants rent short-term, usually because they can't afford the 99-year lease.</p>
<p>The government has a Central Provident Fund (CPF). CPF withhold 37% of everyone's income into 3 accounts: retirement (like U.S. Social Security), medical care, and housing. for most people, the money accumulated in their CPF account is enough to cover downpayment and most of mortgage payments. Singapore citizens (but not permanent residents) receive certain government-funded subsidies when buying the 99-year leases.</p>
<p>This <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_housing_in_Singapore" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Wikipedia page</a> has more details and history.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-01-27T19:52:07.483Z
I suppose that makes sense when you have a very small finite amount of land.
Criticize SE actions means ban
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-01-27T05:51:57.110Z
2021-01-27T14:06:39.420Z
2021-01-27T14:06:39.420Z
Dimitri Vulis
<p>What is Owner occupied public housing?</p>
<p>This text says &quot;in Singapore at present about 86 per cent of the population live in public housing, of whom 90 per cent are home-owners.&quot;
<a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/43196729?seq=1" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://www.jstor.org/stable/43196729?seq=1</a></p>
<p>How can you be the owner of you live in an apartment owned by the state?
Maybe the government sells the apartments to the people living in it, if they chose so?</p>

<housing><singapore>
Owner occupied public housing
Joe Jobs
# Owner occupied public housing

(Asked by: username_0 on 2021-01-26)

What is Owner occupied public housing?

This text says "in Singapore at present about 86 per cent of the population live in public housing, of whom 90 per cent are home-owners."
<https://www.jstor.org/stable/43196729?seq=1>

How can you be the owner of you live in an apartment owned by the state?
Maybe the government sells the apartments to the people living in it, if they chose so?

**Tags:** housing, singapore

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## 2 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2021-01-27. Score: 6 | Accepted answer

In Singapore, a government agency called the Housing and Development Board (HDB) builds housing (mostly apartment buildings). HDB is not meant to be profitable. It loses money every year and is subsidized from the government budget.

HDB ensures that its buildings have access all the standard infrastructure nearby - mass transit, retail stores, schools, medical and recreational facilities, etc before tenants move in.

HDB also ensures that the tenant population is diverse and no ethnic group is disproportionally overrepresented in any location (i.e. they will reject a prospective tenant in a location belonging to an ethnic group that they already have too much of).

About 80% of the Singapore population lives in HDB apartments.

The tenants have an option to sign a 99-year lease. About 90% of the tenants choose this option. They're not quite "owners" (the government is the owner and the landlord), but close enough with the 99-year lease - they can re-sell the apartment, hopefully at a profit. The remaining ~10% tenants rent short-term, usually because they can't afford the 99-year lease.

The government has a Central Provident Fund (CPF). CPF withhold 37% of everyone's income into 3 accounts: retirement (like U.S. Social Security), medical care, and housing. for most people, the money accumulated in their CPF account is enough to cover downpayment and most of mortgage payments. Singapore citizens (but not permanent residents) receive certain government-funded subsidies when buying the 99-year leases.

This [Wikipedia page](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_housing_in_Singapore) has more details and history.

> **Comments:**
> **username_3**: I suppose that makes sense when you have a very small finite amount of land.  

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### Answer by username_1 on 2024-06-06. Score: 0

In Singapore, the term "public housing" implies the government is the developer, not necessarily the landlord. It's similar to how some people in the United Kingdom own former council properties, the government originally built the apartments and houses and rented them out for a while, then the government sold some of the dwellings to existing residents in the "Right to Buy" schemes of the Thatcherite government in the 1980s. Maybe Singapore had a similar program.


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