Singapore's sore point: housing and ethnicity
To maintain ethnic harmony, housing must reflect the relative size of the country’s Chinese, Indian, and Malay communities, but this risks creating market distortions and segregation.
Singapore (AsiaNews) – Singapore’s approach to integrating its multiethnic society includes a public housing policy designed to pre-empt inter-ethnic tensions; however, the Ethnic Integration Policy (EIP) has led to distortions in the real estate market, penalising minority owners.
Given that the EIP entails ethnic quotas, it might take longer for minority owners to sell their property; for the same reason, pressure might be put on their asking price if they can sell only to their own group, as quotas can limit the pool of buyers.
Instituted in 1989, the EIP was designed to prevent ethnic segregation in housing. Now it needs to be adjusted, this according to Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam who spoke at the Institute of Policy Studies' 35th anniversary conference.
The EIP provides for ethnic quotas in neighbourhoods as well as housing blocks developed by the Housing & Development Board (HDB), Singapore's public housing authority. However, in some estates, where ethnic concentrations have reached the EIP limits, the threshold can be crossed only by special waivers.
With owners, whether Chinese, Indians or Malay, required to sell only to members of their own ethnic group, it becomes harder to sell in an already tight real estate market.
Last year, about a third of EIP appeals were successful, but they represent only 1.5 per cent of all HDB flat resale applications. In some cases, the HDB directly bought units from owners who found it hard to sell their property.
Overall, while the system is under pressure, the authorities have exercised targeted flexibility, even though this might not solve all problems or avoid social tensions.
A breakthrough might come when the Home Affairs Ministry finally presents its Maintenance of Racial Harmony Act, which follows racist incidents two years ago that put the spotlight on race relations in Singapore.
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06/07/2021 15:22
17/11/2021 15:31
