Beng Huat Chua, "Public Subsidy, Private Accumulation: The Political Economy of Singapore's Public Housing" (NUS Press, 2024)

Sep 19, 2024

Beng Huat Chua, an expert on Singapore's public housing political economy, dives into the transformative journey of public housing in Singapore and its implications for social equity. He discusses the shift from welfare to market commodity and critiques the unintended consequences that have deepened wealth disparities. The impact of COVID-19 on the housing market and the challenges of pricing new flats are also examined. Chua reflects on whether Singapore's model can serve as an example for other nations grappling with affordable housing.

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Intro

00:00 • 2min

Singapore's Housing Journey: From Crisis to Ownership

02:10 • 23min

Transformation of Public Housing: From Subsidy to Market Commodity

25:13 • 6min

The Paradox of Public Housing in Singapore

30:48 • 17min

COVID-19's Impact on Singapore's Housing Market and Migrant Labor

48:01 • 6min

Navigating Singapore's Public Housing Market

53:32 • 4min

Public Housing in Singapore: A Model for Others?

57:12 • 8min

The achievement of Singapore’s national public housing program is impressive by any standard. Within a year of its first election victory in 1959, the People's Action Party began to deliver on its promises in dramatic fashion. By the 1980s, 85 percent of the population had been rehoused in modern flats, and today, decades later, the provision of public housing shapes Singapore's environment. The standard accounts of this remarkable transformation leave many questions unanswered, from the historical to urgent matters of current policy: Why, of all the pressing demands of Singapore's newly enfranchised citizens, was housing such a priority back in the 1960s? How did the provision of social welfare via public housing shape Singapore's industrialisation and development over the last 50 years? Looking ahead, can the HDB continue to be a source of affordable housing for young families, while long-standing appreciation in flat prices provides for the retirement of their parents? How can this be managed as 99-year leases on flats run down? When young people from wealthy families purchase subsidised flats and then resell them for a profit as soon as they can, what does that do for the already pressing issues of inequality in Singapore?

Public Subsidy, Private Accumulation: The Political Economy of Singapore's Public Housing (NUS Press, 2024) is a culmination of Dr. Chua Beng Huat's study of Singapore's public housing system, its dynamics, and the ways it functions in Singapore's politics. Does every great success hold within it the seeds of failure? The book will be of interest to citizens, and scholars of the political economy of Asian development, of social welfare provision, and of Singapore.

This interview was conducted by Dr. Miranda Melcher whose new book focuses on post-conflict military integration, understanding treaty negotiation and implementation in civil war contexts, with qualitative analysis of the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars.

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