More than 9 in 10 public rental households have 4 or fewer people

HDB has begun efforts to provide a better environment for larger families with kids

- Shermaine Ang

The vast majority of public rental households – more than nine in 10 – have four or fewer people, Minister of State for National Development Muhammad Faishal Ibrahim said in Parliament on Tuesday evening. Public rental flats offered by the Housing Board are mostly one- or two-room flats.

HDB has begun efforts to provide a better environment for larger families with young children, including building two-room rental flats with an additional partitioned space which can be used as a child’s room, or a study or activity room, said Associate Professor Faishal.

He was responding to an adjournment motion filed by Ms Carrie Tan (Nee Soon GRC), who urged the Government to consider factors like space and aesthetics in building public rental flats, with the goal of uplifting low-income families and helping them reach financial stability.

“It is not uncommon when I do my house visits to come across families with three, four, sometimes five children living in a two-room flat,” she said, urging the Government to study living spaces and their impact on early childhood development outcomes.

Ms Tan said overcrowding in small rental flats can lead to infections spreading more easily among family members, with poor health leading to higher rates of employment turnover and school absenteeism.

Lacking the space for daily activities such as drying clothes also results in household belongings spilling into common corridors. This poses potential hazards and creates tension with neighbours, adding to the family’s stress, added Ms Tan.