[{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https:\/\/thehomeground.asia\/destinations\/singapore\/when-public-housing-falls-short-of-the-singapore-dream\/#NewsArticle","mainEntityOfPage":"https:\/\/thehomeground.asia\/destinations\/singapore\/when-public-housing-falls-short-of-the-singapore-dream\/","headline":"When public housing falls short of the Singapore Dream","name":"When public housing falls short of the Singapore Dream","description":"Build-To-Order (BTOs) flats are the Singaporean equivalent of the American Dream. These days, young Singaporeans are \u201cdangling\u201d BTOs before proposing marriage, and some sit on these million-dollar nest eggs that currently take a decade to incubate, following the changes made in the Minimum Order Period (MOP) requirements.\u00a0 But just like the American dream, the nation\u2019s […]","datePublished":"2022-01-20","dateModified":"2022-04-16","author":{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/thehomeground.asia\/author\/rachel-teng\/#Person","name":"Rachel Teng","url":"https:\/\/thehomeground.asia\/author\/rachel-teng\/","identifier":367,"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/thehomeground.asia\/wp-content\/uploads\/Rachel_Teng-100x100.jpg","url":"https:\/\/thehomeground.asia\/wp-content\/uploads\/Rachel_Teng-100x100.jpg","height":96,"width":96}},"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"TheHomeGround Asia","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/thehomeground.asia\/wp-content\/uploads\/photo_2021-07-22-222533.jpeg","url":"https:\/\/thehomeground.asia\/wp-content\/uploads\/photo_2021-07-22-222533.jpeg","width":640,"height":640}},"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/thehomeground.asia\/wp-content\/uploads\/S3-Feature-1920-x-1080-px-V1-13.jpg","url":"https:\/\/thehomeground.asia\/wp-content\/uploads\/S3-Feature-1920-x-1080-px-V1-13.jpg","height":900,"width":1600},"url":"https:\/\/thehomeground.asia\/destinations\/singapore\/when-public-housing-falls-short-of-the-singapore-dream\/","commentCount":"1","comment":[{"@type":"Comment","@id":"https:\/\/thehomeground.asia\/destinations\/singapore\/when-public-housing-falls-short-of-the-singapore-dream\/#Comment1","dateCreated":"2026-04-29 19:58:08","description":"Get our special backlink package to help your website consistently rank on page 1 of Google! Get this special backlink package at: https:\/\/privseo.xyz\/product\/special-sitewide-backlink-package\/","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Sandy Plemmons","url":"https:\/\/privseo.xyz\/product\/special-sitewide-backlink-package\/"}}],"about":["Community","Local","Singapore"],"wordCount":1539,"keywords":["bto","built to order","hdb","housing","housing development board","LGBTQ","minimum occupation period","mop","public housing","rental apartments","resale","Singapore","single mothers","single parents"],"articleBody":"Build-To-Order (BTOs) flats are the Singaporean equivalent of the American Dream. These days, young Singaporeans are \u201cdangling\u201d BTOs before proposing marriage, and some sit on these million-dollar nest eggs that currently take a decade to incubate, following the changes made in the Minimum Order Period (MOP) requirements.\u00a0But just like the American dream, the nation\u2019s public housing model is an inadvertent curation of what an ideal Singaporean looks like: young, affluent, and building a nuclear family. This leaves many marginalised communities \u2014 older singles, single parents, and the LGBTQ+ community \u2014 in the shadows.\u00a0These communities have only the resale flats and the private real estate to park their housing dreams in, but these markets have their own set of problems, with discriminatory landlords being a trope so normalised among minority races and foreign nationalities that they have become a \u201cnon-issue\u201d of an issue.\u00a0No equal real estate opportunities\u00a0A typical heteronormative Singaporean couple will most likely have a Housing Development Board (HDB) apartment key by the time they hit the age of 30, and will be sitting on a profit ranging from $200,000 to $300,000 when their flats are due for resale.\u201cIn stark contrast, most of my clients come to me at age 35 or older,\u201d says Mr William Tan, who provides real estate advisory for Prident, an LGBTQ+ collective aimed at providing financial literacy for the community.\u00a0For queer individuals, feeling safe, accepted, and supported in the family home may be a luxury. Yet, many end up moving out in their 20s, and spend the next ten years or so of their lives renting a property before qualifying for an HDB apartment at age 35 under the Single Singapore Citizen Scheme or the Joint Singles Scheme.\u00a0And even then, as singles on paper, queer individuals are only eligible for two-bedroom units in non-mature estates, which often have fewer amenities and lower property values. This falls very short of having accesses to equal choices in the real estate for the LGBTQ+ community, says Mr Tan.\u00a0\u201cTen years is a long and vulnerable period of loss,\u201d he adds. \u201cBecause you\u2019re renting so much, you\u2019re not able to save much money.\u201d Queer individuals will be 45 years old before they\u2019re finally able to turn their properties into assets.\u00a0Not protected by the law\u00a0Due to the lack of recognition of same-sex marriage in Singapore, LGBTQ+ couples and their assets are not protected by divorce laws. \u201cOur government policies do not have anything that\u2019s written out for the community. So we need to find our own ways around the existing structures of housing policy,\u201d says Mr Tan.While he generally advises his clients that there are not many financial benefits from \u201clocking both their names\u201d into a single property, he agrees that this leaves queer couples vulnerable in cases of separation, accidents leaving them in a comatose state, or death.\u00a0In such cases, partners are only seen as a friend or acquaintance in the eyes of the law, and will not be able to make decisions for the individual\u2019s healthcare or financial affairs.\u00a0\u201cThis is why I normally advise my clients that if they\u2019re going to start marrying their finances and properties together, they should speak to an LGBTQ+ affirming lawyer to draw out an agreement in such situations,\u201d he says.\u00a0\u201cIt\u2019s not the best solution, but things like a Will or Lasting Power of Attorney can act as a substitute to a marriage certificate and a guide for when things go south, especially for the queer community,\u201d he adds.\u00a0The rental and resale markets \u2014 good alternatives or still a privilege\u00a0The lack of stringent profile requirements makes it a free and equal playing field for all \u2014\u00a0or so one might think. But when it comes to the rental market, it\u2019s discrimination galore.\u00a0\u201cAll kinds of discrimination happens in the rental market, whether it\u2019s gender, race, or specific nationalities,\u201d says Mr Tan. \u201cIndians and nationals from the People\u2019s Republic of China (PRC) get discriminated against the most. \u201c\u00a0\ufeff\ufeffIn June 2020, a post by Mr Siddharth Karthik went viral on Facebook. \u201cIt\u2019s 2020, I am a Singapore Citizen, I served two years of national service\u2026 only for this sh*t,\u201d he writes. \u201chow would you feel if you were treated like you are \u2018unwanted\u2019 or \u2018inferior\u2019 in your OWN COUNTRY solely on the basis of your race or how you look?\u201dMr Siddharth thinks that the government\u2019s ban of landlords\u2019 \u201cpreferences\u201d is only one part of the solution to a tricky problem. \u201cLegally, landlords are entitled to reject tenants under the name of a \u2018profile mismatch\u2019,\u201d he says. \u201cPolicies won\u2019t change behaviour because these are deep-rooted assumptions which lead to certain beliefs about a particular race.\u201d\u00a0More often than not, \u201cpreferences\u201d arise because of varying lifestyle habits and cultural norms \u2014 which one would think are more readily accepted in a supposedly multicultural, metropolitan city. But Singaporeans, for the most part, have not moved on from stereotypes about \u201cpungent curry smells\u201d.\u00a0\ufeff\u201cInstead of race or nationality preferences, these concerns can always be covered by additional clauses in the rental agreement, such as mandating \u2018no cooking\u2019, or returning houses in a certain contusion\u2019,\u201d suggests Mr Siddharth. \u201cIn short, these cases of preferential treatment can be very easily avoided.\u201d\u00a0While LGBTQ couples do not often face direct discrimination from landlords, the fear is of having Section 377A of the Penal Code \u2014 which criminalises sex between mutually consenting adult men \u2014\u00a0used against them in scenarios of conflict or disagreement.\u00a0\u201cWhen you sign a tenancy contract, there is always a clause that says tenants are not allowed to participate in illegal activities. There is always the potential that a landlord can use that as an excuse to expel the tenant when things go sour,\u201d explains Mr Tan.\u00a0Older singles, especially single parents, are also vulnerable to the horrors of the resale market. In April 2021, a single mother with a 16-month-old got assigned an almost uninhabitable rental flat after waiting for 18 months.\u00a0\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeffWith a child to care for, full-time quality employment may not be a possibility for single mothers, especially those who do not have the support of their families, says Ms Vivian Pan, who runs a support group for single parents on Facebook. As such, many can only afford subpar housing to raise their children in.\u00a0Whether such an incident occurred in isolation is hard to say, but it does not deny that these are situations a heteronormative, affluent couple would face.\u00a0Reimagining housing\u00a0While most of these inefficacies require systemic change and governmental support, some are finding ways to reshape the real estate industry into a more inclusive space.\u00a0\u201cWe felt that the rental space wasn\u2019t really putting the tenant at the heart of the experience. While lots of other industries \u2014 like ride-hailing, for example \u2014 have made progress in being end-user oriented, real estate hasn\u2019t,\u201d says Ms Sophie Jokelson, co-founder of Cove, a platform aimed at reinventing the rental experience.\u00a0With a passion for giving access to safe and comfortable properties for everyone, regardless of ethnicity, sexual orientation, or socioeconomic status, Ms Jokelson and her team have instilled a more holistic no-discrimination policy among the landlords they bring on board.\u00a0\u201cTypically, if you message a property agent in Singapore, one of the first things that they ask you might be, \u2018what is your nationality?\u2019 These are the kinds of questions we do not ask because we feel strongly about inclusivity,\u201d she says, adding that landlords do not have the ability to veto tenants according to profile.\u00a0These perks do not just cater to the marginalised. With increasing waiting periods and MOPs for BTO flats, more young couples and singles are opting for affordable co-living rental apartments instead.\u00a0In the past five years alone, rental in Singapore has been growing at about 8 percent annually. Now, about 150,000 people are renting their homes in Singapore \u2014 around 11 percent of overall households.\u00a0\u201cI think more and more young people are starting to recognise that spending their money on rental is worthwhile because their lives are a little bit on hold if they live with their parents well into their 30s,\u201d says Ms Jackelson.\u00a0\u201cWhat you gain from it is independence. If you\u2019re a young married couple, enjoying those early years of marriage alone are important for the foundation of your marriage. And if you\u2019re single, you can build a more singular sense of identity defined separately from your parents, which you can\u2019t do if you\u2019re living in their space,\u201d she adds.\u00a0Additionally, Mr Tan advises queer individuals to be more mindful of their spending. \u201cIf you want to break out of that mold of only having the option of buying a BTO when you\u2019re 35, then you have to have enough savings at that age,\u201d he says.\u00a0Policies aside, Mr Siddhath adds that it\u2019s about sparking conversations to help people remove their biases. \u201cI am positive that I will continue to face challenges like these [as a minority], but I\u2019m speaking out today in hopes that one or two generations down, this becomes a distant memory we learn from,\u201d he says.\u00a0Join the conversations on TheHomeGround Asia’s Facebook and Instagram, and get the latest updates via Telegram."},{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Destinations","item":"https:\/\/thehomeground.asia\/destinations\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Singapore","item":"https:\/\/thehomeground.asia\/destinations\/\/singapore\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"When public housing falls short of the Singapore Dream","item":"https:\/\/thehomeground.asia\/destinations\/singapore\/when-public-housing-falls-short-of-the-singapore-dream\/#breadcrumbitem"}]}]