SINGLE UNSUPPORTED AGED HDB FLAT RESIDENTS (Assistance)

Dr S. Vasoo asked the Minister for National Development if he will give the number of single unsupported aged persons living in Housing and Development Board rental flats and whether there are plans to assist these residents in their living arrangements and facilities.

The Minister of State for National Development (Mr Lim Hng Kiang) (for the Minister for National Development): Mr Speaker, Sir, at present, there are about 10,800 elderly households living in HDB rental flats. About 6,000 are living in 1-room flats. Elderly persons are those aged 60 years and above. These elderly households consist of either a single elderly person living alone, two elderly single persons sharing a flat, or an elderly couple living on their own. In many of these cases, particularly the early immigrants, the elderly residents have to fend for themselves.

If nothing is done to assist these elderly households in their living arrangements and facilities, in such a way as to enhance their mobility and independence, many of these elderly persons will be prematurely forced to go into institutional care. We should make it possible for the elderly to live in the community for as long as possible.

I am pleased to announce that my Ministry has, in conjunction with the Ministry of Community Development (MCD), worked out a scheme to carry out improvement works to upgrade the living conditions of the elderly staying in 1-room rental flats. Suitable 1-room rental blocks with high concentrations of elderly households will be selected for the improvement works, which include modification of lifts to stop at every floor, making the bathrooms and toilets non-slip, replacement of existing taps with taps that have 'lift up' handles, and support handbars in the toilets.

To kick off the scheme, a pilot project will be implemented in three blocks where more than a quarter of the households are elderly households. The three blocks are:

Blk 5 Banda Street;

Blk 4 Telok Blangah Crescent; and

Blk 90 Pipit Road.

HDB will also work with MCD to arrange for a voluntary welfare organisation to provide community-based care and support services such as home-help services, meals and goods delivery services, and Befriender services, to the elderly households in each block. An administrative office will be set up at each block to facilitate the work of the respective voluntary organisations.

In this way, the elderly residents can continue to live independently, while at the same time being assured of help if needed.

Dr S. Vasoo (Tanjong Pagar GRC): Sir, are the residents required to pay for the internal improvements in their flats?

Mr Lim Hng Kiang: These internal improvements will be entirely funded by the Government.

Mr Loh Meng See (Kampong Glam GRC): Sir, is it the intention of the Ministry to group all these elderly citizens together so that they can benefit from the scheme? How long will the total project of the pilot scheme last, and when will we see that every elderly citizen will benefit from the improvements?

Mr Lim Hng Kiang: For this scheme to work, we require two things to come together. First, the physical improvements to the flat to make it more convenient for the elderly to live independently. Secondly, a strong welfare support system so that services are extended to them if needed, such as the Befriender service, etc. So this scheme can only work if these two things come together and we have to work closely with the Advisor to the Citizens' Consultative Committee in each constituency to try and encourage them to set up such voluntary services. Right now, there is no firm intention to group all the elderly in a constituency in one block. We leave it to the Advisor. In discussing this pilot scheme with some of the Advisors, some prefer to keep up to maybe half of the block for the senior citizens and the other half for the normal households so that the block has a mix. Other Advisors are prepared to have a higher percentage. We will leave it to the Advisor to decide what percentage he feels comfortable. We also leave it to the Advisor to work with the voluntary organisations to make the scheme work.