Housing & Development Board 
From Singapore Hotels & Singapore Lifestyle
|
The Housing & Development Board (HDB) is Singapore's public housing authority and a statutory board under the Ministry of National Development.
HDB was set up in 1960, at a time when a large number of people were still living in unhygienic, potentially hazardous slums and crowded squatter settlements packed in the city centres. With the setting up of HDB, people were able to move out from slums into quality homes.
Taking over from its predecessor, the Singapore Improvement Trust, HDB was tasked with solving the nation's housing crisis. It built 21,000 flats in less than three years. By 1965 it had built 54,000 flats, exceeding the 50,000 target of its First Five-Year Building Programme. Today, about 84 percent of Singaporeans live in HDB flats compared with only nine percent in 1960 when HDB was first established.
Contents |
Role of HDB
Providing Affordable, Quality Homes
As the public housing authority, HDB plans and develops public housing towns that provide Singaporeans with quality homes and living environments. In so doing, HDB also engages in active research and development work to ensure that cost-effectiveness and quality standards are maintained and continually improved on in the provision of HDB homes.
Ensuring Vibrant Towns
Even as HDB towns are provided with various commercial, recreational, and social facilities and amenities for the convenience of residents, one of HDB’s key priorities is to ensure that they meet needs and changing circumstances. Therefore, through renewal and upgrading programmes, HDB brings new features, facilities, and improvements to its older estates and towns to ensure their vibrancy and continued relevance.
Focusing on the Community
A key priority of HDB is the building of cohesive communities within its towns. Hence, living environments are provided with community spaces for residents to mingle and interact. Public housing policies and schemes are formulated not only to meet changing needs and aspirations, but also in support of national objectives such as racial harmony, stronger family ties, and focus as well on sectors of the population in need of specific attention such as the elderly and those who may be in financial difficulty. And with a network of branch offices islandwide, HDB ensures that it is well-integrated in the daily lives of the community it serves.
