About 80% of Singapore’s resident population lives in public housing, more commonly referred to as ‘HDBs’ (after the organisation-in-charge, the Housing Development Board). The quality and affordability of HDBs have been celebrated by many. However, public housing in Singapore is imbued with state assumptions about the notion of home. In this first episode of Home on the Dot, producers Tang Hui Jun and Ryan Ang demonstrate how the state uses the provision of housing to institutionalise ideas of community, race, family structure, and above all: home.

 

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PM Lee Hsien Loong’s speech  [Link]

HDB: Homes of Singapore (book) [Link]

Additional academic readings about HDB:

– Chua, B.H. (1997). Communitarian Ideology and Democracy in Singapore. London: Routledge, 124-146.

– Chua, B.H. (2014) “Navigating Between Limits: The Future of Public Housing in Singapore,” Housing Studies, 29:4, 520-533.

– Chee, L. (2017). “Unhousing sexuality: Sexuality and singlehood in Singapore’s public housing.” Sexualities at Home: Experience, Politics, Transgression, eds. B. Carnell, R. Scicliuna, B. Campkin and B. Penner. London: Bloomsbury, 35-51.

– Goh, Derek & Chang, T.C. (2018), ‘ Homes on transition: youths’ experiences in Singapore’s Rental Housing’, in Dynamics of Community Formation. Developing Identity and Notions of Home, Palgrave Macmillan (Springer Nature), New York, 81-98.

– Oswin, N. (2010). “The modern model family at home in Singapore: a queer geography.” Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers 35:2, 256-268.

– Pow, C.P. (2013). “From Housing a Nation to Meeting Rising Aspirations: Evolution of Public Housing over the Years.” Changing Landscapes of Singapore, eds. E. Ho, C.Y. Woon and K. Ramdas. Singapore: NUS Press, 43-60.

– Pow C.P. (2017). “Courting the ‘rich and restless’: globalisation of real estate and the new spatial fixities of the super-rich in Singapore.” International Journal of Housing Policy, 17:1, 56-74.