Sin Ming residents will miss long-time neighbours after relocation

Sin Ming Road resident Siti Juleiha Jumari hopes the neighbour she calls godma ends up in the same block as her when everyone in Block 26 is relocated next year.

The block's rental flats are home to more than 300 residents - 130 of whom are low-income seniors who have until September next year to move to another rental unit.

Marymount MP Gan Siow Huang in May said moving residents out of the ageing block will mean they can enjoy better facilities at a new location.

The Housing Board lets residents request where they want to move to, and some have started shifting to other parts of Sin Ming and further afield, like Bendemeer.

Block 26 is in a quiet corner of an industrial estate, near the busy Marymount Road.

When The Straits Times visited the block in May and June, the void deck was bustling.

Many residents were chatting and eating together at the tables and benches.

When asked about the move, more than a few said they would miss the close friendships forged over the decades.

Ms Siti Juleiha's godma, Madam Faridah Mohd Isa, 66, has lived in the block for 40 years.

Their relationship goes back about 20 years, when Ms Siti, 33, moved into her unit.

Madam Faridah would stop by daily to ask about her day. Now, it has become routine for the widow to call out across the corridor for Ms Siti to go over for dinner.

Ms Siti, an outlet manager at a retail store, said: "I call her every day even when I am at work. I know almost everything about her, she sees me as her best friend.

"I treat her better than I treat my own mother."

Their top priority is to make sure they are assigned the same block when they relocate, preferably to Woodlands.

Residents said they have not been told what would happen to the block.

According to the Urban Redevelopment Authority 2019 masterplan, the site is earmarked for residential purposes.

Meanwhile, Ang Mo Kio Family Service Centre Community Services has partnered CapitaLand Hope Foundation to help the low-income residents relocate.

It will provide financial support of more than $165,000, including buying furniture and appliances for their new homes. CapitaLand staff and tenant volunteers will help the seniors pack and relocate, as well as take them shopping.