HDB ONE-ROOM FLATS (Enlargement of and priority to tenants for transfer to larger units)

Mr Ho See Beng asked the Minister for National Development (a) if the Housing and Development Board will consider giving priority for the purchase of larger units or applications for transfer to larger units to tenants who have lived in HDB one-room flats for eight years or more: and (b) in view of the popularity of the two-room flats, whether the HDB plans to renovate and enlarge the one-room flats to larger units.

The Minister for National Development (Mr Teh Cheang Wan): Mr Speaker, Sir, there are more than 70,000 applicants on the waiting list for HDB flats. A large number have not yet had the chance to live in an HDB flat. It would be unfair to these applicants if priority to purchase is given to existing HDB tenants who are already enjoying the benefits of subsidized housing. Owing to the shortage of flats, it is also not possible to give priority to existing tenants of one-room flats for transfer to larger rental flats.

I want to add that in my Meet-the-People sessions, a large number of my constituents have asked me to help them get an HDB flat earlier. I want to reiterate here that the HDB's allocation policy is based on registration priority, i.e. first come, first served. No queue jumping on whatever grounds will be allowed even if such requests are made through Members of Parliament, Parliamentary Secretaries, Ministers of State and Ministers. If seeing an MP meant getting an HDB flat earlier, all the 70,000 applicants on the waiting list will do so, and it is not possible for HDB to grant priority allocation of flats to all of them.

As the one-room improved flats are still popular, there is no proposal to convert them to larger flats. However, the emergency one-room flats built in the early Sixties are unpopular and many of them are vacant. These flats are now being progressively demolished for redevelopment.

Mr Ho See Beng (Khe Bong): Mr Speaker, Sir, how does the Minister expect a one-room flat to accommodate a family of 10 persons?

Mr Teh Cheang Wan: Sir, 10 persons in a family do not arrive suddenly. Previously, the waiting time for HDB flats, both for transfers and for public applications, was 2 1/2 years and now it is about three years. Before the 10 persons arrive, the family should have applied for a transfer earlier. If the family is going to wait for all the 10 persons to arrive before applying for a transfer, then I presume they are able to accommodate themselves somehow.