“Growing up in a social housing area…” begins to say Lavinia, 38, “…it’s great! spontaneously completes her 9-year-old daughter, Aanya. The Ranjan family has been living for ten years in a spacious apartment in Serangoon North, a new city ten kilometers from the city center. His home, like that of 78% of Singaporeans, is social housing, but not as it is understood in most countries.
Here, almost all social housing belongs to the households that live there. More precisely, these households have a 99-year lease on their apartment. A state corporation, the Housing and Development Board (HDB), is responsible for planning, constructing buildings, allocating housing and repairing it.
It is with chai tea and samosas that Lavinia, a high school history teacher, opens the To have to the doors of his five rooms of 120 square meters. Ranjan, her husband, is an engineer for the electricity company. Their three children, Aanya, Dhilan (7) and Logan (3), leap from one end of the dinosaur-filled home to the other. The family also hosts Nancy, an Indonesian domestic helper.
For a young couple, obtaining new social housing in Singapore generally means waiting between five and seven years. Lavinia and Ranjan therefore preferred to go into the resale market of “HDB apartments”, as they are called here. However, a rule limits the overheating of these second-hand apartments: any amount paid above the government assessment must be paid without resorting to a mortgage.
The control that the Singaporean state maintains over housing means that in this country where it is expensive to live, there is no housing crisis. New three-bedroom apartments start at around $300,000, which is quite affordable considering the low income tax rate. Nevertheless, the constant enrichment of the population drives up the prices. Luxurious social apartments, in fashionable neighborhoods, now sell for more than a million dollars…
The common areas of the HDBs invite community life. The building where the Ranjans live, like the similar 13-storey towers around it, stands on columns. This frees up space on the ground floor for the inhabitants. During the day, old people listen to Chinese opera on the radio; in the evening, teenagers drink their first beers there. “It’s very safe — we’re in Singapore,” says Lavinia as she shows around her living environment.
The streets of the micro-district are not open to traffic; only residents can enter to park their car. Lavinia’s children spend a lot of time in the play modules. A string of shops brings together everything you need. “You can find everything here, no need to go anywhere else,” says our host. A food court, where excellent meals are served for around $5, is located on the other side of the boulevard. On weekdays, the family enjoys meals prepared by Nancy; at weekends she usually goes to the fair once or twice.
A tool for social cohesion
Neighborhoods like this can be found everywhere in Singapore. Jerome Lim, 57, grew up in the 1970s in Toa Payoh. This “new city” is the first development of social housing designed and built by the young country after its independence. He lived with his family at 19e and the top floor of block 53, where a terrace offered an exceptional view of the district that was the pride of the nation.
“To attract foreign investment, the Singapore government had to prove that it was in control. And to that end, social housing was a great showcase,” says Mr. Lim in the elevator up to his childhood apartment. Block 53 of Toa Payoh was thus used to welcome the most distinguished guests. In 1972, Queen Elizabeth II was invited there. She visited the Lim family lodging and shook hands with young Jerome.
Social housing, yesterday as today, also serves to cement the social cohesion of the multicultural country. “My best friend, two floors down, was Punjabi,” said Mr. Lim, who is of Chinese ethnicity. Singapore officially has three ethnic groups: Chinese (74% of citizens and permanent residents), Malays (14%) and Indians (9%). In each residential tower, ethnic quotas prevent the formation of ghettos. Owners of social housing can only resell their apartment to members of their ethnic group.
The origins of Singapore’s ambitious social housing program can be traced back to the aftermath of World War II, under the British colonial administration. The kampongs (villages) are unsanitary and frequently ravaged by fires; the city, subjected to a strong demographic pressure, overflows. Chinatown was home to more than 40,000 people per square kilometre: that’s three times more than the Plateau Mont-Royal, the densest borough in Montreal today.
Susan, a 78-year-old woman with lively eyes, despite the mist of the cataracts, lived with her family in a shop house typical of Chinatown in the 1940s and 1950s. His parents were florists; their shop was located on the ground floor of the building. The family of seven lived in two rooms at the back of the store.
Funeral homes were doing business in the neighborhood. They left the bodies of the dead in the streets, under simple sheets, for three or four days, the time of the funeral, then cremated them. “I really liked to peek,” recalls Susan. But a simple gust of wind could lift the sheets and expose the corpses. It scared me! »
The old lady now spends her days at the foot of a social housing tower, close to a chinatown become a tourist attraction. Old gamblers gather there, around a few hotly contested games of Xiangqi—the “elephant chess.” “Seniors can rent housing at very low prices,” says Susan. The government is kind to seniors. For those who lack means, he offers a free meal every day. »
“At the beginning, social housing gave a lot of legitimacy and political capital to the government, explains the renowned sociologist Chua Beng Huat, who was a researcher at the HDB in the 1980s. However, it then turned into a totalizing practice. . Thus, all citizens, with the exception of the richest 10 or 15%, depend on the HDB for housing. It has therefore become an obligation for the government. If he fails to deliver the goods, it becomes a political problem. »
In general, Singaporeans value their country’s social housing model. Some, however, criticize the crystallization, by this program, of the traditional values advocated by the government. Only married couples can buy a home before they turn 35; singles, unmarried couples and homosexuals must take their troubles patiently. The State also pushes the first buyers to settle near their parents. (Lavinia’s family got a $40,000 grant by buying an apartment near Ranjan’s parents’ home.)
HDB’s social housing program generates annual deficits of approximately $2 billion. It is the government that covers these losses – such as those in education and health – but it refuses to claim any form of socialism, says Mr. Chua. “If the government confessed to being a welfare state, the population would consider all these subsidies as assets to which they are entitled”, he underlines. Nevertheless, the myriad of apartment towers, all numbered, look like a piece of communist petticoat sticking out under the neoliberal dress of Singapore.
This report was funded with support from the Transat International Journalism Fund-The duty.