Parliament to debate two separate motions on public housing affordability during Feb 6 sitting

SINGAPORE – Parliament will debate two separate motions on keeping public housing affordable and accessible to Singaporeans when the House sits next week on Feb 6.

National Development Minister Desmond Lee on Monday filed a motion asking Parliament to affirm the importance of keeping public housing affordable and accessible while protecting the interest of current and future generations of Singaporeans, and to endorse the Government’s commitment to both goals.

This comes after Progress Singapore Party (PSP) Non-Constituency MPs Leong Mun Wai and Hazel Poa filed a motion on Jan 20 to debate public housing issues.

Their motion asked Parliament to call upon the Government to review its housing policies in order to deliver affordable and accessible Housing Board flats, strengthen the owner-occupation intent of public housing, protect retirement adequacy and keep public housing inclusive for Singaporeans of all generations.

On Monday, Senior Minister of State for National Development Sim Ann said in a Facebook post that Mr Lee’s motion may sound similar to the one filed by the PSP MPs, but “the two are not really the same”.

“Implicit in the PSP’s motion is the claim that the Government has not done enough to deliver affordable and accessible HDB flats, strengthen the owner-occupation intent of public housing, protect retirement adequacy or keep public housing inclusive. We disagree with this claim,” she said.

Ms Sim added that the Government will make clear its commitment to keeping public housing affordable and protecting Singaporeans’ interests during the debate.

“We feel it is better to state the Government’s intent and strategy squarely in a separate motion and debate both together,” she said.

She added that she looks forward to a “substantive debate, setting out the Government’s approach towards public housing, debunking spurious claims, and hearing constructive views and suggestions” on fulfilling Singaporeans’ home-ownership aspirations now and in future.

In December 2022, Ms Sim had invited Mr Leong to file a parliamentary motion so that the pricing policies for Build-To-Order (BTO) flats can be fully debated, following an exchange over social media on the issue.

The HDB had

revealed the breakdown of the development costs of BTO flats on Dec 7.

It said the total development costs for the 13,506 new flats HDB handed over to buyers was $5.346 billion for the 2021-2022 financial year, with the bulk of it – $3.167 billion – coming from land costs.

This prompted Mr Leong to assert in a Dec 8 Facebook post that land costs should not be factored into the pricing of HDB flats, which drew a Dec 12 response from Ms Sim saying that disregarding these costs would hurt Singaporeans.

During the Jan 10 Parliament sitting,

Mr Lee said Mr Leong’s proposal to exclude land costs in pricing HDB flats is “superficially attractive”, but “not logical” and “seeking to raid our national reserves”.

Mr Leong, in a Jan 20 Facebook post announcing the PSP’s motion, said he will be putting up “some substantial policy recommendations” for debate and that none of those policies will lead to a “raiding of our reserves”.

In September 2021, Parliament had also concurrently debated two motions – on the issues of jobs and foreign talent – which were filed by Mr Leong and Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Lawrence Wong.