HOUSING AND DEVELOPMENT BOARD (Applications for transfer of flats)

[Mr Speaker in the Chair]

Mr Ng Yeow Chong asked the Minister for Law and National Development if he will ascertain from the Housing and Development Board the number of outstanding applications for transfer of flats, as at the latest convenient date, of applicants whose family membership consists of (i) 5 to 7 persons; (ii) 8 to 10 persons; and (iii) 11 or more persons; and against these family membership groupings, the number of applicants who have waited for one year and under; two years; three years; and four years and over.

The Minister for Law and National Development (Mr E. W. Barker): Mr Speaker, Sir, the information requested for by the Member for Mountbatten is as follows: Waiting Period of No, of families consisting of Transfer of Flats 5-7 8-10 11 or more Persons Persons Persons (a)Less than 1 year 358 137 20 (b)Between 1 to 2 years 365 46 3 (c)Between 2 to 3 years 187 8 30 (d)Between 3 to 4 years 371 75 7 (e)More than 4 years 390 178 60

473 of the 628 applications which are in the 4-years or more waiting period have been offered alternative accommodation at least once, while some have been offered flats more than once. The remaining cases have not been considered because of their lower priority, such as requests for transfer to a similar type of flats or because of unsuitable locality or trouble with neighbours.

Mr Ng Yeow Chong (Mountbatten): Mr Speaker, Sir, is the Minister aware of the fact that the applications for transfer to larger accommodation come mainly from one-room flat dwellers who cannot afford to buy flats under the home ownership scheme? Will the Minister urge the Housing and Development Board to speed up the processing of these applications?

With particular reference to those living in my constituency, will the Minister request the Housing Board not to reserve all the casual vacant flats for resettlement purposes but to release some of these vacant flats, wherever possible, for my constituents who are on the waiting list? Sir, most of these constituents have lived in my constituency for more than a decade and they prefer to be transferred within the estate.

Mr Barker: Sir, after that long speech by the Member, I do not get what the question is. If it is a question of expediting the processing of applications, this can be done. But the number of flats are limited and the number of applications are many.

As for the Member's own estate, particularly Old Kallang Airport estate and the Guillemard Road estate, I have details of outstanding applications for transfer. The number of families consisting of 5-7 persons in these estates who waited for more than four years are about 33; families of 8-10 persons who waited for more than four years number only two; and the number of families consisting of 11 or more persons who had to wait for more than a year does not exist. In fact, only two families of such a number have waited for less than a year. Most of the flats vacated existing tenants in the two estates that I have referred to have been allocated, in fact, to transfer-applicants from these estates. Of the 46 units vacated in 1973, 34 units were allocated to transfer cases in respect of residents from these two estates. Only two flats were allocated to resettlement cases and the remaining flats to public applicants and fire victims from elsewhere. In fact, I do not know what the Member of Parliament is grumbling about.