HDB Flat Rental Schemes

Mr David Ong asked the Minister for National Development (a) what is the current number of families who are sharing HDB rental flats under the Interim Rental Housing scheme; (b) what is the number of complaints and requests for re-locations since the launch of the scheme in 2009; and (c) whether the scheme will be improved given the difficulty of tenants staying together.

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Mr Khaw Boon Wan: Interim Rental Housing (IRH) is meant for families in financial hardship requiring urgent temporary accommodation. About 1,600 families are staying in IRH, under a co-sharing arrangement. IRH flats are 3-room or larger flats, and co-sharing helps tenants reduce their individual rental cost.

Most of the tenants are able to get along well. So far, we have received about 40 feedback cases concerning flat-sharing. These cases were resolved amicably through mediation, or by re-pairing the tenants with another family, or re-locating them to another IRH flat.

As part of the recent enhancements to the IRH Scheme, HDB has introduced additional guidelines to facilitate better pairing of households. This includes capping the number of occupiers per flat, and arranging for the two families to meet up before they are paired. Nevertheless, it is also important for IRH tenants to exercise mutual respect and tolerance for one another.