Foreign worker dorms getting act together

A keen eye on both necessity and practicality is evident in the announcement that, by 2030, about 1,000 foreign worker dormitories

must meet an interim set of housing standards

meant to improve their ability to contain disease outbreaks. Some of these interim standards are less stringent than the ones that were announced in 2021. The Ministry of Manpower (MOM) has said that by 2040, these 1,000 existing dorms will have to upgrade to the standards unveiled in 2021. Since September 2021, in fact, all newly built dorms have had to abide by the higher standards.

The MOM’s transition scheme seeks to improve the living conditions of foreign workers, both because they (like local workers) deserve state intervention to ensure their rights and dignity, and because their contribution is irreplaceable in crucial areas of national life, including construction. Since foreign workers literally help to build Singapore, it is only natural that the country should reciprocate by investing its protective energies in their well-being. The latest move on the housing front reflects

the need for Singapore’s equitable values to prevail for foreign workers.

The necessity of observing this principle was proved during the coronavirus outbreak, when foreign workers’ dorms became a major source of infection primarily because of overcrowding. The dorms’ sanitary conditions were also found wanting and enabled the disease to spread within them. These problems will be addressed initially through the interim measures and more ambitiously by 2040.