HDB turns 50, looks to new challenges

Source : Straits Times – 21 Jan 2010

IT HAS been quite a journey for the Housing and Development Board (HDB).

When it was set up in 1960, Singapore was mired in a housing crisis, but today the country has one of the highest home ownership rates in the world. Public homeownership in Singapore is 80 per cent.

To share its achievements – and mark its 50th anniversary – the HDB is hosting the International Housing Conference from next Tuesday to Friday.

The event will bring a host of housing experts to Singapore, with many of them no doubt keen to pick up some pointers.

The HDB’s development and procurement director, Mr Fong Chun Wah, told The Straits Times the board hopes to ’share stories from this long journey’, with not just Singaporeans but also an international audience.

More than 30 speakers and experts, including housing ministers from Finland and Spain, will attend the conference along with an estimated 500 local and foreign delegates.

The HDB will share its practices in planning housing estates – such as in design and construction and in fostering human interaction.

These include technology breakthroughs in construction, the use of alternative energy sources such as solar and universal design catering to residents of all capabilities, said Mr Fong.

To some extent, certain aspects of the Singapore model can be replicated in emerging countries such as China, and the HDB hopes to share this experience, he said.

‘But there is much more to learn from others,’ he added. ‘We hope to gain some new ideas and concepts from the speakers, and find areas of collaboration.’

The conference will also feature a special session with Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew, who was prime minister at the time of the HDB’s inception and who conceived the home ownership programme implemented in 1964.

The HDB’s golden jubilee ‘is not just an occasion for (it) to celebrate its success’, said Mr Fong, who has been with the organisation for more than two decades.

‘It’s also a time for us to focus on realising our vision for the next five decades – and to rise to the challenge of meeting the housing aspirations of a new generation of Singaporeans.’

The conference will focus on the theme of sustainability – something that the HDB has embraced in its mission for the past 50 years ‘before the word became fashionable’, said Mr Fong.

‘The topic is very current, and sustainable housing is part of a bigger sustainable development trend happening around the world now.’

The deputy director of the HDB’s housing administration department, Mr Norman Chee, added: ‘It goes beyond the ‘hard- ware’ into the ‘heartware’ – providing not just housing but a town with facilities that are easily accessible, and social spaces where people can interact.’

Mr Fong said the HDB will face challenging issues such as land scarcity, changing aspirations and lifestyle of residents, and an ageing population over the next 50 years.

‘The board will be reflecting on how to tackle these challenges even as we look back on what we’ve achieved in the past five decades – we hope the conference will help to discuss some of these issues.’