Written Answer by Ministry of National Development on annual HDB rental flat applications from single unwed parents under 21 years old in the past five years

Oct 20, 2022

Ms Poh Li San: To ask the Minister for National Development

(a) in the past five years, how many applications to rent a flat from HDB have been received annually from single unwed parents who are aged under 21 years old;
(b) what have been the outcomes of these applications;
(c) what are the top reasons for their rejection; and
(d) if such data is not being collected, whether the Ministry will start collecting it.

Answer:

All public rental housing applications (regardless of age and marital status) are assessed holistically, and HDB will consider whether applicants have family support or alternative housing options. For single unwed parents aged below 21 years old who have insufficient finances and need a place to stay, HDB may consider them for public rental on a case-by-case basis if it is in their child’s best interests, taking into account input from social workers if necessary.

2        From 2018 to Aug 2022, HDB received 58 requests for rental flats from single unwed parents aged below 21 years old.  About 30% of these requests were successful (see Table 1).

Table 1: Number of Requests from Single Unwed Parents below 21 years old for Rental Flats and Number of Successful Requests

[1] Those who made multiple requests in different years are reflected in the year of their latest request.

3        The common reasons why requests were not successful included applicants having family members who can house them, or not providing the full information required for assessment.