Oral Answer by Ministry of National Development on application of HDB rental flats
Mar 24, 2016
Mr Zainal Sapari: To ask the Minister for National Development
(a) whether HDB can review the eligible income criteria for HDB rental flats especially for families with children affected by divorce settlements; and
(b) whether HDB can give special priority to families with school-going children in applications for HDB rental flats or units under the Sale of Balance Flats scheme.
Answer:
The income ceiling and other eligibility criteria for rental flats are reviewed from time to time. At $1,500 per month, the current income ceiling enables us to prioritise our rental flat supply for low-income households.
Nevertheless, HDB exercises flexibility to allow some families with higher income to get a public rental flat, if they have no family support and no other housing options. These include divorced parents with children.
HDB also grants priority allocation of rental flats on a case-by-case basis to families with school-going children, for example to accommodate arrangements for the care of the children. Even without priority allocation, the waiting time for a rental flat has been reduced substantially from 21 months in 2008 to 4 months in 2015.
For Sale of Balance Flats (SBF) Exercises, HDB already gives priority to families with children through the Third Child Priority Scheme (TCPS) as well as the Parenthood Priority Scheme (PPS).