Friday, 22 April 2016

This was a report on the 2nd Social Service Research Centre Conference organised by the Social Service Research Centre (SSR) at NUS Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, on the theme of working with low-income families in Singapore. In his keynote address, Emeritus Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong, who is the Centre’s advisor and Guest-of-Honour at the event, noted that the Government can help to advance social science research by making more data readily available to researchers.

In a related report titled “Debt relief ‘helps poor avoid bad decisions’” (Home, Page B6), it was reported that a local study on how debt affects the poor, which was presented at the conference, has found that clearing the debts of the poor reduces their anxiety and helps them focus better, possibly reducing the chances that they will make bad decisions which keep them mired in poverty. The study was conducted by Dr Ong Qiyan, Research Fellow at SSR, and Dr Walter Theseira from UniSIM.

In another related report titled “Low-income families with housing problems need more help, social workers say” (TODAY Online, 21 Apr), it was mentioned that a study by Assistant Professor Ng Kok Hoe from the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at NUS and Dr Neo Yu Wei from UniSIM, has found that when it comes to helping clients with housing problems, some social workers see their clients as victims who could do with more policy flexibility.

 Click here to read the article.