Home truths, and name your 'hill'...

I wonder if National Development Minister Khaw Boon Wan has opened Pandora's Box when he mulled over returning to the HDB's original purpose ie to build -- for purchase -- affordable housing for people (read: families) who were unable to purchase private property (at least as a first purchase) and who were expected to live in such public property for a considerable length of time (ie even as the kids grew up and bought their own HDB flats).

The HDB's other noble purpose was to build heavily subsidised smaller-sized rental flats for families that could not afford to get onto the "Home Ownership" scheme (which, as I previously noted, is a lessor/lesser arrangement -- the land remains state land -- and not a property ownership deal).

Taxpayers money was obviously heavily used in these HDB programmes. No one quarrelled with that as ridiculous resale profits from private sales -- "earned" from the general pool of taxpayers' money -- had not arisen... yet. Other "privileges" like attractive HDB loans and housing grants were still socially acceptable all-round so long as that first home for public housing dwellers was truly home to them.

But fast forward to today. Apart from the HDB, there emerged the HUDC. HDB flats are now BTOs while ECs and DBSSs have "condo-like" features. There is also the Pinnacle@Duxton, which seems to be in its own category. Whatever the nomenclature, if you started off with a modest HDB flat, you would be a fool if you did not keep on leveraging on its private-resale potential to realise capital gains. There is now even this absurd beast, the COV (cash-over-valuation). So, today, what has happened to the "spirit" of the HDB's mission?

These two recent letters hit the nail on its head...

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I live in a supposedly "hilly" part of Singapore. Many of its public and private housing developments have "Hill-", "-hill", "Heights", "Rise" and/or "Bukit" in their names. But, as I previously noted, I could not make sense of one new condo project that is called "The Hillier". Thanks to some prodding from Nick, I have even composed a doggerel:

A man asks his wife, 'How 'bout the Hillier?'
To which she replies, 'You can't be sillier'
No, dear, he retorts, 'I'm not sillier than thou'
Her riposte, said with verve, 'I'm hillier than thou'

Now I have learnt that there's an even newer project... and it's called The Hillion!

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Finally, I get strange stuff in the mailbox these days...