Speech by Minister Desmond Lee on the Silver Upgrading Programme

Aug 25, 2024


Ms Nadia Samdin, Grassroots Adviser of Cheng San-Seletar

Residents, Friends and Volunteers

Good morning!

I’m very glad that all of you can join Ms Nadia Samdin and me, at today’s Community Improvement Walk.

We have been launching new flats across Singapore to meet the needs of homebuyers, young families and also seniors looking for a 2-room flexi or a Community Care Apartment. But we are just not launching new homes. At the same time, we are committed to rejuvenating our existing flats and estates, so that we keep our estates constantly refreshed, keep our amenities and services up-to-date, inject vibrancy into our HDB neighbourhoods, and ensure that there is a quality living environment, even as our estates age. This is very important because 80 percent of Singaporeans live in public housing estates, and we want to keep improving every part of Singapore.   

Supporting Ageing-in-place

As Miss Nadia had said, Ang Mo Kio is ageing. But actually, the whole of Singapore is ageing as part of the natural process. In six years, in 2030, 1 out of every 4 of us will be 65 years and older, full of wisdom, full of experience. But as we grow older, our needs will also evolve and change. To make sure we take care of these needs holistically, last year, we launched Age Well SG. It is not just the name of the programme, it is also a call to action, let’s age well Singapore.

This is a nation-wide transformation across housing, transport and also providing active ageing and care services, which seniors need to have in the community, so that we can support our seniors to age actively and independently in their homes and communities. So, as part of this, we are making a bigger, more concerted push to improve the physical living environment for all our seniors.

Let’s us start from inside our homes. You may be familiar with the Enhancement for Active Seniors programme, or EASE, which makes our HDB homes safer and more comfortable for our seniors.

  • In April this year, we launched EASE 2.0. Under this enhanced programme, our seniors can now apply for an even wider range of senior-friendly facilities and fittings such as foldable shower seats, rocker switches and handrails at flat entrances with steps.
  • All these fittings are heavily subsidised by the Government, because we want our seniors to apply for them, get them and benefit from them on a daily basis. 

What about outside the house, such as the corridor, lifts, community deck and neighbourhood? We want our neighbourhoods and estates to be safe for our seniors, to enable our seniors to move around independently and move around a lot, such as volunteering, going about your daily living, and most importantly, to be socially active. Under our Neighbourhood Renewal Programme (or NRP), we will roll out more senior-friendly amenities as part of our future estate upgrading works.

But, some of our older HDB precincts have already undergone estate upgrading programmes in the past, and do not qualify for NRP. Some of these precincts are home to many seniors who will benefit from senior-friendly enhancements.

  • We will therefore carry out silver upgrading works for these precincts. We will name this the Silver Upgrading Programme, or SUP, which will be fully funded by the Government. Let me share a little bit more about this programme.

Silver Upgrading Programme and Community Improvement Walk

Under the Silver Upgrading Programme, our seniors can look forward to new active ageing amenities, for example, therapeutic gardens and fitness trails, as well as more barrier-free access ramps, and rest points along linkways to enhance walkability and connectivity. We know that plants can really help to stimulate our senses and our seniors enjoy therapeutic gardening. We also know that though we have long linkways, while they are sheltered, many of our seniors tell us that there are nowhere to sit. We will also introduce dementia-friendly features to improve wayfinding.

  • We will start first with four precincts here in Chong Boon, Ang Mo Kio.
  • And then, we will subsequently extend the programme to 22 other older precincts in Ang Mo Kio, Bukit Merah, Queenstown, and Toa Payoh.
  • Around 24,000 seniors across all 26 precincts will benefit from this.

With these silver enhancements, we hope that you can continue to stay physically active, socially connect with your family, neighbours, and friends, and go about your daily routines around your estate more safely, more comfortable and more confidently.

To implement the programme, my colleagues at HDB will work with colleagues from other agency partners, for example, LTA, AIC, NParks, SportSG, and others to coordinate improvement works, work together closely, plan together, synergise senior-related initiatives and share design practices that will be relevant for the enhancement works.

More importantly, we will not just work more closely amongst agencies on the ground in your neighbourhood for this, but we will also work even more closely with you in the community. As you know your neighbourhood even better than all of us, we have invited you today to join us on a Community Improvement Walk around your precinct. During the walk later, please share as much as you can with us. Share your ideas and thoughts on how we can improve your precinct to better meet your needs and make it safer for you, your friends, and your neighbours. As we are also extending the SUP to other eligible precincts across Singapore, your feedback will be very valuable in helping us to refine this new programme.

Allow me to now share in Mandarin.

大家早上好！非常高兴你们可以陪同Nadia女士和我一起走访你们的社区。

政府会持续提升我们的组屋和我们社区的环境，让我们的生活环境更加的美好。去年，我们推出了乐龄SG计划，Age Well SG, 通过一系列住房，交通和护理服务的改进，来支持老年人就地养老。

首先，我们来看看房屋里面的提升。政府在今年四月推出了乐龄易计划2.0（EASE 2.0），增添了更多新的乐龄设施，比如壁挂式折叠淋浴椅，翘板开关，还有在有梯级的组屋大门旁边安装扶手， 更方便我们的乐龄人士进出他们的家。

  • 政府会承担大部分的费用。屋主只需支付最低百分之五（5%）的费用，比率就按组屋的类型来定。

有些居民问我：之前翻新过的旧组屋区怎么办，怎么提升设施，让社区更亲乐龄呢？

  • 今天，我很高兴宣布新的乐龄翻新计划，在社区内增添更多的乐龄设施，比如康疗花园，健身步道，无障碍坡道等等。
  • 我们还会采用特别图案和颜色的指标牌来加强记忆点，让老年人在社区里走动时，可以更轻松自如。
  • 我们将在宏茂桥，还有红山，女皇镇和大巴窑的26个旧邻里开始实施这个计划。接下来的五年，这些地区会增添更多亲乐龄设施，惠及大约二万四千老年人。

大家对自己的社区是最熟悉不过的。我们希望大家能够积极提供意见和想法，共同改善居住环境，支持年长国人享有活跃、健康的生活。

So, I encourage everybody to share openly and give us your good ideas so that we can improve this estate and also take all these leanings and improve the other estates. So with that, thank you for joining us and let’s enjoy the walk later.