Foreign Worker Enclaves in HDB Estates

Ms Foo Mee Har asked the Minister for National Development (a) whether the Ministry will consider implementing a quota policy similar to the Ethnic Integration Policy to manage the concentration of foreign workers renting HDB flats or rooms in HDB estates; and (b) if not, what measures will HDB employ to prevent the formation of foreign worker enclaves in HDB estates.

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Mr Khaw Boon Wan: We do not have the equivalent of the Ethnic Integration Policy in the management of the number of foreign workers renting HDB flats or rooms. This is because the renting of a flat or a room is a temporary housing arrangement.

However, I am sympathetic to the concerns of an over-concentration of foreign workers in some HDB estates. We are mulling over how best to address such concerns.

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