Useful to share lessons learnt from Dakota relocation

Heaps of abandoned furniture, clothes and crockery strewn under the blocks in Dakota Crescent as a result of residents' hurried attempts to meet the Dec 31, 2016 moving out deadline. PHOTO: ST FILE

I refer to Dr Ad Maulod's commentary (Who guards the bodyguard? The ethics of care for older adults, April 7) and the Housing Board's reply (HDB worked closely with Dakota residents for relocation, May 1).

Dr Maulod is a member of the Cassia Resettlement Team (CRT) whose commentary was one of the articles published in the book, They Told Us To Move: Dakota - Cassia.

The book highlights various issues affecting residents that started from HDB's notice to relocate.

Some residents interviewed in the book felt either confused or lost as to what they needed to do beyond preparing to move away before the deadline arrived.

One of them, an illiterate single mother in her late 70s, had asked a volunteer to help read the relocation notice.

The volunteer in her 30s had difficulty understanding certain criteria as well and later shared that they did not hear of any organised assistance being provided by the relevant agencies.

Like the Housing Board, CRT had also worked closely with Tung Ling Community Services and various partners to help the elderly residents.

However, there were no clear examples of any fruitful collaboration between CRT and HDB mentioned throughout the book.

While I believe that most if not all stakeholders had tried to do their best given limited resources, it is still puzzling that CRT would hesitate or neglect to provide ongoing feedback pre-and post-relocation to HDB as residents became comfortable with CRT's presence and quality of care.

I hope someone can shed light on this. Perhaps further sharing would help all concerned to strive to work together more closely so that the quality of care given to our most vulnerable can be further enhanced in future relocation exercises or in other life-changing events.

George Toh

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on May 08, 2019, with the headline Useful to share lessons learnt from Dakota relocation. Subscribe