Rental voucher scheme for families waiting for BTO flat completion extended until end of year
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HDB gives out Parenthood Provisional Housing Scheme vouchers to eligible families renting flats in the open market.
ST PHOTO: BRIAN TEO
Savanna Tai
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SINGAPORE – A voucher scheme that defrays the rental costs of young couples and families waiting for their Build-To-Order (BTO) flats to be completed will be extended for six months, until the end of this year, the HDB said on June 16.
The extension is expected to benefit around 200 households.
The Housing Board gives out Parenthood Provisional Housing Scheme (PPHS) vouchers to eligible families renting flats in the open market. These families will receive $300 per month
Before the extension, the scheme covered tenancies only until June 2025.
The scheme aims to provide interim support for eligible families renting rooms or flats in the open market, while the HDB ramps up the supply of its own PPHS flats – which are interim rental homes for such families.
The board is bumping up the supply of PPHS flats to 4,000 by end 2025, from 800 in 2021.
The latest move to extend the rental voucher scheme comes after a significant drop in application rates for PPHS flats, from 20 in 2021, to around three currently, said the HDB on June 16.
Eligible households must apply from Aug 1, 2025, even if they have done so for the first batch of voucher support. They can expect to receive the voucher for each full month of tenancy.
To qualify for the scheme, families must have a monthly household income of $7,000 or lower. They must ensure that their landlord has registered their tenancy with the HDB, and that their NRIC addresses have been updated.
Families currently renting a PPHS flat can also choose to rent from the open market and apply for the PPHS voucher once they end their PPHS flat tenancy.
Interested applicants can check their eligibility for the voucher on HDB’s website
HDB also said it is on track to launch more than 130,000 BTO flats from 2021 to 2027, including those with shorter waiting times.
It added that BTO application rates for first-timer families have dropped to 1.5 during the February sales exercise. This is down from 3.7 in 2019.
Median waiting times have dipped to below four years, comparable to pre-pandemic levels. “All BTO projects undergoing construction are on track to be delivered on time,” said the HDB.
