Regarding the public housing housing of the Progressive Party’s non-constituency MP Liang Wenhui as an example in the past century, referring to the decline in the quality of life of Singaporeans, the Minister of Development Li Zhisheng retorted that my country has long stopped using the mechanism to formulate HDB prices based on construction costs. Our housing policy ensures that everyone can afford it. The plan of living and living advocated by the Party is to reverse the car, and housing has become an asset that cannot guarantee the people's retirement security.

Lee Zhisheng responded to Liang Wenhui's speech the day before (6th) when debating the Ministry of Human Resources expenditure budget at the Congressional Appropriations Committee on Friday (March 7).

He pointed out that Liang Wenhui selectively used employment data for Singapore and permanent residents; and took public housing as an example to compare the affordable HDB housing for graduates of the University and Industry and Vocational Training Bureau (VITB) in 1979 to show that the quality of life of Chinese people is worse than in the past.

Li Zhisheng responded that Singapore today is very different from that in 1979, when only 4% of students in each class went to college. Liang Wenhui based on the median salary of VITB graduates in 1979, but did not explain that only 9% of each session were on VITB at that time.

In other words, Liang Wenhui compared the situation where a few could afford housing at that time, which was compared with the situation where most Singaporeans could afford housing today.

Further reading

Happy Mountain's first pre-order HDB flat project will launch 1,500 units in October

Happy Mountain's first pre-order HDB flat project will launch 1,500 units in October

Nearly 70% of local young people hope to own a house within 10 years to buy a four- or five-bedroom HDB house.

Nearly 70% of local young people hope to own a house within 10 years to buy a four- or five-bedroom HDB house.

In addition, today's HDB flats are very different from those in the 1970s. HDB flats now have more modern facilities and convenient transportation, providing residents with better quality of life. More than 80% of Singaporeans live in HDBs, and more than 90% own HDBs. HDB flats have become the home of Singaporeans and are also an asset for preservation of value, allowing them to cash out for retirement when they enter their old age.

Li Zhisheng said that from 1968 to 1987, the Housing Development Bureau used construction costs as the price of HDB flats, and the forward-looking plan for living and living advocated by the Party was actually learning from the early mechanisms. Early construction costs were relatively low at the time, but increased around 1979 and 1980, which also led to the rise in HDB prices in 1979 and the two years afterwards. However, Liang Wenhui only selectively reflects the data from 1979, without mentioning the trends in the next two years.

Nowadays, my country no longer adopts a mechanism for pricing construction costs, but uses market prices and uses significant market discounts to lower prices to ensure that Chinese people of all income classes can afford HDB housing.

Li Zhisheng said: “The plan of living and leisure proposed by the Forward Party deviates from the social contract that our country has adhered to for decades. They want to reverse the car and return to an era when housing is just a place to live and a expenditure, without the function of preserving value and providing retirement security, and Singaporeans have no participation… Is this really the Singapore we want?”