Instead of paying for daily necessities with cash, low-income families from the Pasir Ris West ward can now use community vouchers that will help them offset the costs of products such as food and medicine.

Some 100 households are expected to benefit from the voucher initiative, which was launched by Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean - who is also an MP for Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC, which the ward falls under - at Pasir Ris West Plaza on Sunday morning.

He also distributed decals - for participating merchants to indicate that they accept the community vouchers - to these merchants.

Under the initiative, each household successful in its application will receive up to $50 worth of vouchers in denominations of $2, $5 and $10.

These can be used to offset the cost of products and services from a total of 22 shops, coffee shops and minimarts within the district.

To apply, households living within the district, which spans from blocks 500 to 782, can fill in application forms that will be available at the Pasir Ris West Community Club from Sunday.

Called North East Community Vouchers @ Pasir Ris West, the initiative is jointly funded by North East Community Development Council and the Pasir Ris West Citizens' Consultative Committee.

Pasir Ris West is the eighth division in the North East district to roll out the voucher initiative, broadly called the North East Community Vouchers programme.

It was first launched in 2012 at the Bedok Reservoir-Punggol ward and has benefitted more than 1,000 needy residents in areas such as Tampines Changkat, Eunos and Pasir Ris East.