Speech by Minister Desmond Lee at the HDB Community Day 2023 at the Flower Field Hall, Gardens by the Bay

Jun 30, 2023

Opening

1. A very good evening to HDB CEO Mr Tan Meng Dui, colleagues, partners, award winners and friends. I am happy to join you at this year’s HDB Community Day.

2. The theme this year is “Celebrating Life in the Heartlands”. Indeed, we can find much to celebrate and appreciate about our HDB heartlands, where the heart of Singapore truly beats. Our children don’t have to go too far to have fun at the playground; it is easy to enjoy a delicious and affordable meal in the neighbourhood; and many opportunities are available to connect with neighbours who come from all walks of life.

3. With some 80% of our resident households making HDB flats their homes, HDB living forms an important part of the lived experience of many Singaporeans. Our heartlands play a crucial role in building and fostering strong and cohesive communities.


Fostering Inclusive Communities

4. As part of our efforts to build community-centric towns, we pay special attention to integrating shared spaces and facilities into our HDB living environment. This is because home is much more than just within the four walls of the flat. Fitness facilities, study corners, playgrounds, senior activity centres, community living rooms, roof gardens, or even neighbourhood shops – our residents have common spaces to mingle and make friends, build trust, and support one another.

5. Most recently, we introduced a new initiative that transforms spaces above HDB multi-storey carparks into allotment gardens, allowing aspiring gardeners to grow their own herbs, vegetables, or ornamental plants. The allotment gardens are part of the HDB Green Towns Programme which aims to inject more greenery in the
form of rooftop gardens and urban farms in our estates. These green spaces help cool our environment, and provide visual and spatial relief in a dense, high-rise living environment. The allotment gardens are also conducive spaces for residents to break the ice, and interact with like-minded neighbours who enjoy gardening.

6. The first allotment garden was completed in May this year, at a multi-storey carpark in Jurong West. I was just there last weekend, and the residents shared with me how they enjoyed gardening alongside neighbours, and sharing their fruits of labour with one another. We will launch 4 more allotment gardens in Woodlands and Sembawang next year.

7. Infrastructure alone is not enough. Our housing policies play an important role in keeping our neighbourhoods inclusive and diverse – a hallmark of our Singapore identity. The Ethnic Integration Policy (EIP), for instance, helps to ensure that our estates mirror Singapore’s ethnic diversity. Another example is the Prime Location Public Housing model, which allows us to build affordable and accessible public housing in central locations, which might otherwise be exclusive domains for the well-to-do.


Nurturing A Strong Community Spirit

8. And yet, neither infrastructure nor policy is sufficient to build strong, cohesive neighbourhoods. We need community initiative and active programming too. Over the years, we have introduced various programmes to encourage residents to shape the liveability and lovability of the neighbourhoods they live in.

Lively Places Challenge

9. One key programme is the Lively Places Challenge, which enables the community to implement projects that enliven and enhance HDB living. HDB provides training for residents to run their projects to improve their community, and connects them with subject matter experts who can help refine their proposals. The Lively Places Challenge is now in its 5th run where we received 23 proposals, with many creative ideas that aspire to strengthen community bonds.

10. For example, some residents in Queenstown were concerned that their ageing neighbours may find it challenging to navigate their way around in the estate. That sparked the idea of painting wayfinding murals to help seniors, especially those with dementia, find their way around the neighbourhood. Together with some of the elderly residents living in the area, they designed murals that reflect familiar images, such as kaya toast and chapteh, to evoke their treasured memories. They then rallied more than 100 residents to paint the murals. This meaningful initiative involved more than a thousand residents from start to end and is indeed a very commendable effort from the ground up.

Singapore's Friendly Neighbourhood Award

11. We also think that it is important to recognize the efforts of Singaporeans who have gone the extra mile to connect with and care for fellow residents in the community. The Singapore's Friendly Neighbourhood Award was introduced this year to celebrate friendly neighbourhoods in Singapore.

12. I am very happy to see over 200 nominations received for this inaugural Award. For example, Skyline II @ Bukit Batok and Yishun Floral Spring have community farms where resident volunteers tend to the garden together and share the crops harvested. At 43 Chai Chee Street, and 261A Toa Payoh East, there are community fridges to share rescued fruits and vegetables with needy residents. Over at Compassvale Helm in Sengkang, residents celebrated the birthday of a familiar face – a hardworking Bangladeshi cleaner in their estate, with a traditional Bangladeshi meal. I am very encouraged by these stories of kindness, showing that the kampung spirit is well and truly alive in our neighbourhoods.

Friends of Our Heartlands Network

13. To nurture changemakers within our neighbourhoods, HDB started a Friends of our Heartlands Network in 2017, to link potential volunteers with relevant opportunities. The network now has almost 2,500 active volunteers, who are helping to further our efforts in community bonding and gracious living.

14. On this, I would like to make special mention of two exemplary volunteers: Mr Chong Teng Kok and Mdm Tan Ha Eng. They have volunteered actively for the past ten years, serving with enthusiasm at HDB's MyNiceHome roadshows for new homeowners, guiding them around and getting their feedback on the exhibition. They also served as Eco Guides to raise awareness of HDB’s green initiatives for public housing. Both Mr Chong and Mdm Tan recently stepped up to be volunteer leaders, recruiting and mentoring new volunteers through on-the-job training. In recognition of their stellar contributions, HDB will be presenting our first Platinum Friends of Our Heartlands Awards to Mr Chong and Mdm Tan.


Conclusion

15. You may have heard about the Forward SG exercise launched last year, where we have been reaching out to Singaporeans to discuss what matters most to us as a society, and what our future social compact should look like. Participants told us that giving back to society is one of the common values that they hold dear. The volunteers and communities I spoke about today are proof of this. As they have demonstrated, giving back can take many forms. Some people have tangible resources to give. Others choose to contribute in different ways, such as with their time, effort and skills.

16. And giving back can start small, with little effort. For example, take time to say ‘hi’ to your neighbours, or help keep our community spaces clean. You can also look for community causes that are close to your heart. See an issue in your community? Look for like-minded neighbours who can team up with you to tackle the problem. Your community is formed by residents like you, and ultimately belongs to you.

17. In closing, let me thank all our volunteers, partners, and colleagues who have been working closely together to build strong communities in our HDB heartlands. And I wish you all an exciting and meaningful Community Day!