HOUSING AND DEVELOPMENT BOARD FLATS

Mr Bernard Rodrigues asked the Minister for Law and National Development if he will ascertain from the Housing and Development Board the number of applicants who have been waiting for the Board's flats for six months or more and whether steps are being taken to expedite the allocation of flats to the applicants.

Mr E. W. Barker: There are 5,658 applicants who have registered for Housing Board's flats for six months or more. Of these applicants, a few hundred have requested for specific housing estates such as Lavender Street where the present 2-room and 3-room flats are exclusively used to rehouse clearance families from the Golden Mile and Balestier Estate Renewal. All the rest have, however, been made offers but have refused the offers for one reason or another. The delay is due entirely to the applicants for being choosy and not due to any procedure of allocation adopted by the Board. As I have said before, any applicant who is not choosy about the locality can be accommodated immediately. There are 2-room flats available at Kampong Tiong Bahru at a rental of $55 per month and 3-room flats at Bukit Ho Swee at $60 per month.