ELDERLY CITIZENS DRIVEN OUT OF HDB FLATS

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ELDERLY CITIZENS DRIVEN OUT OF HDB FLATS:

8\. Ms Irene Ng Phek Hoong asked the Minister for National Development (a) whether the Ministry has encountered more cases of the elderly being turfed out of HDB flats owned by their adult children or who prefer not to live with their children for various reasons; and (b) what housing options are available to these elderly.

Dr Mohamad Maliki Bin Osman: Mr Speaker, Sir, HDB does not have any data on the number of elderly who have been turfed out of flats by their children. Families must be the first line of support whenever someone needs help. This includes providing accommodation for and looking after aged parents, even when it is inconvenient or difficult. If the children are unable to house their parents in their homes, they should provide the necessary financial support for alternative accommodation, such as rental of a room or flat from the open market.

Elderly parents whose children are not willing to support them may seek the assistance of the Family Service Centres or the Office of the Commissioner for the Maintenance of Parents. If mediation is not successful, they can consider making an application for maintenance at the Tribunal for the Maintenance of Parents.

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The Member also asked about housing options for the elderly. Based on HDB's Sample Household Survey 2008, about 60% of the elderly prefer to live on their own. HDB has built Studio Apartments which are designed for elderly living. Senior citizens who wish to live independently can consider buying such Studio Apartments or a smaller flat. If they wish to age in the familiarity of their existing flat, they can consider the Lease Buyback Scheme or sublet their spare bedrooms to generate income, if necessary. Yet another alternative, if they have the financial means, is to rent a flat or room from the open market.

Ms Irene Ng Phek Hoong: Sir, at the Meet-the-People Sessions, I seem to see an increasing number of elderly residents who say that they cannot live with their children, either because the flats are too cramped and crowded or the relationship has broken down irretrievably and cannot be reconciled. Given such a situation, can the HDB review its policy to allow for such appeals where the need for rental flat is quite real? And can I ask the Parliamentary Secretary, if he agrees that this is not so much a matter to do with filial piety but the fact that it is a reality on the ground where some family members just cannot get along and, rather than force them to put up with further hardships, to provide them a solution with rental flats?

Dr Mohamad Maliki Bin Osman: Sir, I can empathise with the Member's concern about the elderly. Often times, the other Members of the House also come across such situations

where residents come and say that they cannot live with their children because of strained relationships. Sometimes, when we ask the children, the story is somewhat different. It could be an issue of perception. They perceive that they cannot live with their children, and when we ask the children, the children say, "I am fine. They

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can continue living with me." Of course, there are situations where the relationship is really difficult. On whether we can do anything about it to salvage it, we have to look at it on a case-by-case basis. The fundamental issue is, first, whether we are talking about a housing issue or a more fundamental issue of handling family relationships. Of course, it is not easy. We will always have difficulties living in a family environment, let alone living in a multi-generational environment where the needs, aspirations and expectations are different.

So, we recognise that there are some of these challenges. That is why I think we have put in place the social infrastructure. We want to encourage families to continue to be the first line of support, to ensure that families are strengthened to be able to do that. There will be situations where family members have difficulties living with the elderly. I do not think we can say there is one family in Singapore who has no problem living with elderly. There will definitely be situations where they have difficulties dealing with this relationship. If they are able to understand, and if they know, there are support services available, I think the challenge is to encourage them to seek assistance early, such that these issues can be resolved early. That is why I mentioned earlier about the social infrastructure, particularly the Family Service Centres, where issues of such a nature can be resolved. We want to try to encourage that. We want to try to have families to continue to be able to support the elderly. In the circumstances that the Member mentioned, the situation is so irretrievable that one cannot do anything about it, particularly if there are issues of violence involved, I think we will be very sympathetic to such situations. I would encourage Members to surface those cases to us and we can study the cases carefully, get inputs from the Family Service Centres and the relevant

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professionals to see how else we can support such families. But, by and large, I think we want to start from the first premise that we want to try to help families cope with such situations. As they cope, they will be able to learn new coping mechanisms and perhaps able to manage future situations, so that we do not have to end up in a situation where we just provide alternative housing when families are not able to cope.

Mr Baey Yam Keng: When some senior citizens apply for rental flats unsuccessfully, they are turned away because their children have flats which their parents can move into. I would like to ask the Parliamentary Secretary: does the Housing and Development Board use criteria like flat types and, hence, what is the reasonable number of occupants per flat-type?

My second question is this. As we know, in our Asian society, a lot of parents, especially the older generations, do not see turning to their daughters as an option because they feel that their daughters are married out of the family. So when the HDB assesses such cases where the children have their own flats, does it make a distinction between whether it is a son or a daughter?

Dr Mohamad Maliki Bin Osman: I think the issue is the role of the children in supporting the well-being of the elderly, which also translates into ensuring that the elderly have accommodation. When we say that the elderly have family support as a criterion in assessing their eligibility for rental flats, for example – this is a new criterion that we have put in place – we look at two possibilities. One is the availability of a spare bedroom. So, we look at not just the room type of the flat. If it is a 5-room flat but there are 30 people living in it – it is an exaggeration – it is, of course, not possible. If it is a 5-

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room flat, the married child has two children. The assumption is that there is a spare bedroom – that spare bedroom can accommodate the elderly. In the circumstances where the elderly say, "No, I don't want to" or "I don't feel comfortable because I don't want to live with my children", we say, "You can afford to accommodate your parents. But if you do not want to accommodate your parents, we cannot force you. It is incumbent upon you, as a child, to provide the living accommodation for your parents." I think that is a fair system. The flip side to it is: do we then say because they are capable but they do not want to, then the Government should provide the rental flat for the elderly? I think that is a different proposition altogether.

So, we have to understand some of these circumstances. That also answers the second question of daughters. Yes, maybe they do not want to live with their daughters. But is the daughter capable of providing that living arrangement for the elderly, be it a rental room or an alternative accommodation? The issue is the responsibility of the children, who have the ability to do so, to provide for the well-being of their elderly.