Homepage
PR Newswire
(12-11-2010, 02:18 PM)yeokiwi Wrote:(12-11-2010, 01:52 PM)Ben Wrote: One thing I strongly disagreed with our govt is the way they calculate the so call subsidy to public housing. We all know that they are using market value instead of cost as the basis of calculating such subsidy, which make no sense to me at all. Anywhere, this topics has been bought up countless times but they just stick to it.
Just my personal view of this matter.
So, how do you propose to valuate a HDB flat?
What should be the price of a 4-room flat in Pinnacle Duxton and a 4-room flat in Punggol?
Anyone old enough will know that HDB did a great job in "transforming Singapore into the most liveable city in Asia", to quote from the annual report. And they had already done the job before the turn of the millennium. Their primary goal of providing affordable housing for the citizens has already been achieved. If I were a policy maker, I will dismiss HDB and offer a fixed-sum subsidy (with conditions of course) to all qualifying citizens for buying a home.
1. The subsidy becomes real because it is paid from the government to the seller, and can be used for offsetting either a newly constructed private property or one purchased from the open market.
2. There is no need for HDB to innovate. e.g. to engage is fanciful design of public housing such as the Pinnacle @ Duxton.
3. Reduced government spending/budget, and hopefully tax.
Everything that HDB is doing today is secondary. There are no more slums in Singapore. And I don't think HDB should be responsible for providing "affordable luxury".
For interest sake, one can look at the number of dwelling units developed by HDB for this decade and compare that to what they had already put in place before year 2000.
http://www.hdb.gov.sg/fi10/fi10221p.nsf/...200236310/$FILE/Key%20Statistics.pdf