HOUSING AND DEVELOPMENT BOARD RENTAL FLATS

Mr Ahmad Khalis bin Abdul Ghani asked the Minister for Home Affairs (a) whether the Ministry has a profile of youths at high risk of becoming new drug abusers; (b) what has been done to prevent these youths from becoming drug abusers; and (c) how successful have these measures been.

Mr Wong Kan Seng: The typical young drug abuser used to be a male heroin abuser below the age of 20. In recent years, however, in percentage terms, synthetic drugs have displaced heroin as the main drug of abuse amongst young abusers below the age of 20. 61% of the young arrested last year were abusers of synthetic drugs, compared to 37% of them being heroin abusers.

It is difficult to compile a profile of young drug abusers. This is because youths from all backgrounds find themselves tempted to try synthetic drugs. Such "club drugs" are touted as being hip and harmless when, in fact, they are harmful and potentially even fatal.

The National Council Against Drug Abuse (NCADA) spearheads a wide range of preventive education programmes to spread the anti-drug message to a wide spectrum of our youths. Let me outline some of these measures.

On the school front, CNB conducts talks to students on the dangers of drugs. CNB has also introduced anti-drug messages into the school curriculum. Visits are conducted to Drug Rehabilitation Centres (DRCs) to warn youths of the dangers and penalties of drug abuse. More recently, NCADA launched a new online preventive drug education tool called David's Diary. This has been well utilised and received by schools.

NCADA also supports the PAL programme under the Singapore Anti-Narcotics Association which aims to reach out to out-of-school youths. In 2001, an estimated 600 youths received assistance under the programme. 140 eventually returned to school while others managed to find employment.

As for synthetic drug abuse which is associated with the nightlife and entertainment outlets frequented by youths, NCADA, over the past two years, has partnered the management of clubs to conduct an annual "Clubs Against Drugs" campaign to communicate the anti-drug message to club-goers.

I am pleased to report that these efforts have been successful. The number of youths below age 20 arrested for drug abuse has declined from the peak of 679 in 1993 to 203 in 2002*, a significant drop of 70%. The problem is under control. Nevertheless, MHA will continue to work with the community and the schools to instill an attitude of zero tolerance towards drug abuse amongst our youths.

• Figure for 2002 is provisional.

Ms Irene Ng Phek Hoong asked the Minister for National Development if he will (a) give a breakdown of the total number of Housing and Development Board one- and two-room rental flats in Singapore; (b) state what is the trend in the demand for such flats over the last five years; and (c) provide a profile of the tenants in terms of age, marital status, sex and occupation.

Mr Mah Bow Tan: HDB rental flats are meant for Singaporean households with monthly incomes not exceeding $800 who are financially not ready or unable to afford their own flats. As at 31st December 2002, HDB had 19,869 (45%) one-room rental flats and 24,045 (55%) two-room rental flats.

The demand for HDB rental flats has remained stable over the last five years, with an average of about 2,500 Public Scheme applications per year.

As at 31st December 2002, 48% of the 35,800 rental tenants are elderly persons aged 61 and above, and 12% are aged 40 and below. In terms of marital status, 30% of them are singles, 34% are married and 36% are either widowed or divorced/separated persons. As for gender, 59% are male and 41% are female.

HDB does not maintain ready information on the occupations of its rental tenants. According to HDB's Household Sample Survey conducted in 1998, 35% of tenants were not working (eg, housewives, disabled, retirees), 28% were sales & services workers (eg, sales assistants, labourers, cleaners) and 21% were production workers.