Public Housing in the Global Cities: Hong Kong and Singapore at the Crossroads

Anutosh Das

doi:doi:10.11648/j.urp.20210601.14

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Public Housing in the Global Cities: Hong Kong and Singapore at the Crossroads

Anutosh Das

Published in Urban and Regional Planning (Volume 6, Issue 1)

Received: 11 September 2020 Accepted: 9 February 2021 Published: 20 February 2021

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Abstract

Affordable Housing, the basic human necessity has now become a critical problem in global cities with direct impacts on people's well-being. While a well-functioning housing market may augment the economic efficiency and productivity of a city, it may trigger housing affordability issues leading crucial economic and political crises side by side if not handled properly. In global cities e.g. Singapore and Hong Kong where affordable housing for all has become one of the greatest concerns of the Government, this issue can be tackled capably by the provision of public housing. In Singapore, nearly 90% of the total population lives in public housing including public rental and subsidized ownership, whereas the figure tally only about 45% in Hong Kong. Hence this study is an effort to scrutinizing the key drivers of success in affordable public housing through following a qualitative case study based research methodological approach to present successful experience and insight from different socio-economic and geo-political context. As a major intervention, this research has clinched that, housing affordability should be backed up by demand-side policies aiming to help occupants and proprietors to grow financial capacity e.g. subsidized rental and subsidized ownership can be an integral part of the public housing system to improve housing affordability.

Published in	Urban and Regional Planning (Volume 6, Issue 1)
DOI	10.11648/j.urp.20210601.14
Page(s)	41-46
Creative Commons	This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright	Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Public Housing, Housing Affordability, Global Cities, Subsidized Ownership, Demand-Side Policies, Social-Welfare

References

[1]	Bertaud, A. (2019), “15th Annual Demographia International Housing Affordability Survey”, http://www.demographia.com/ dhi.pdf, (last accessed on 13 November 2019).
[2]	Zhang, R. J. (2017), “A Tale of Two Cities_ Comparative Study of Public Housing Policies”, International Immersion Program Papers (71).
[3]	CBRE (2019), “Fifth Annual Global Living Report”, https://www.cbreresidential.com/uk/en-GB/content/global-living-2019, (last accessed on 10 November 2019).
[4]	Census and Statistics Department, The Government of the HKSAR. (2019), Hong Kong Statistics, https://www.censtatd.gov.hk/hkstat/hkif/index.jsp, (last accessed on 15 November 2019).
[5]	The Hong Kong Housing Authority (2018), Annual Report 2014/2015. Hong Kong, https://www.hkhs.com/home/ pdf/ar2018/index.html, (last accessed on 14 November 2019).
[6]	Chua, B. H. (2014), “Navigating between limits: the future of public housing in Singapore”, Housing Studies, 29(4), pp. 520-533.
[7]	Fong, K.-w. P. (1989). A comparative study of public housing policies in Hong Kong and Singapore: Hong Kong.
[8]	Fan, Y., & Lin, G. (2019), “Affordable housing lessons from Sydney, Hong Kong and Singapore_ 3 keys to getting the policy mix right” The Conversation, pp. 1-5.
[9]	Housing and Development Board (2019), Annual Report 2018/2019. Singapore, https://www20.hdb.gov.sg/fi10/ fi10221p.nsf/hdb/2019/index.html, (last accessed on 15 November 2019).
[10]	Bardhan, A. D., Datta, R., Edelstein, R. H., & Kim, L. S. (2003). A tale of two sectors: Upward mobility and the private housing market in Singapore. Journal of Housing Economics, 12(2), 83-105.
[11]	Yuen, B., KWEE, L. K., & Tu, Y. (2006). Housing affordability in Singapore: can we move from public to private housing? Urban Policy and Research, 24(2), 253-270.
[12]	Field, B. (1987), “Public housing in Singapore”, Land Use Policy, 4(2), pp. 147-156.
[13]	Chin, T., & Strand, J. B. (2008). “Hong Kong vs. Singapore: A comparison of two real estate markets”, Cornell Real Estate Review, 6, pp. 26-36.
[14]	Department of Statistics Singapore. (2019), Singapore in Figures 2019, https://www.singstat.gov.sg/-/media/files/publications/situation/sif2019.pdf, (last accessed on 14 November 2019).
[15]	Phang, S. Y. (2007), “The Singapore model of housing and the welfare state”, Housing and the New Welfare State: Perspectives from East Asia and Europe, pp. 15-44, https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/soe_research/596, (last accessed on 18 November 2019).

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APA Style

Anutosh Das. (2021). Public Housing in the Global Cities: Hong Kong and Singapore at the Crossroads. Urban and Regional Planning, 6(1), 41-46. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.urp.20210601.14

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ACS Style

Anutosh Das. Public Housing in the Global Cities: Hong Kong and Singapore at the Crossroads. Urban Reg. Plan. 2021, 6(1), 41-46. doi: 10.11648/j.urp.20210601.14

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AMA Style

Anutosh Das. Public Housing in the Global Cities: Hong Kong and Singapore at the Crossroads. Urban Reg Plan. 2021;6(1):41-46. doi: 10.11648/j.urp.20210601.14

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@article{10.11648/j.urp.20210601.14,
  author = {Anutosh Das},
  title = {Public Housing in the Global Cities: Hong Kong and Singapore at the Crossroads},
  journal = {Urban and Regional Planning},
  volume = {6},
  number = {1},
  pages = {41-46},
  doi = {10.11648/j.urp.20210601.14},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.urp.20210601.14},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.urp.20210601.14},
  abstract = {Affordable Housing, the basic human necessity has now become a critical problem in global cities with direct impacts on people's well-being. While a well-functioning housing market may augment the economic efficiency and productivity of a city, it may trigger housing affordability issues leading crucial economic and political crises side by side if not handled properly. In global cities e.g. Singapore and Hong Kong where affordable housing for all has become one of the greatest concerns of the Government, this issue can be tackled capably by the provision of public housing. In Singapore, nearly 90% of the total population lives in public housing including public rental and subsidized ownership, whereas the figure tally only about 45% in Hong Kong. Hence this study is an effort to scrutinizing the key drivers of success in affordable public housing through following a qualitative case study based research methodological approach to present successful experience and insight from different socio-economic and geo-political context. As a major intervention, this research has clinched that, housing affordability should be backed up by demand-side policies aiming to help occupants and proprietors to grow financial capacity e.g. subsidized rental and subsidized ownership can be an integral part of the public housing system to improve housing affordability.},
 year = {2021}
}

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TY  - JOUR
T1  - Public Housing in the Global Cities: Hong Kong and Singapore at the Crossroads
AU  - Anutosh Das
Y1  - 2021/02/20
PY  - 2021
N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.urp.20210601.14
DO  - 10.11648/j.urp.20210601.14
T2  - Urban and Regional Planning
JF  - Urban and Regional Planning
JO  - Urban and Regional Planning
SP  - 41
EP  - 46
PB  - Science Publishing Group
SN  - 2575-1697
UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.urp.20210601.14
AB  - Affordable Housing, the basic human necessity has now become a critical problem in global cities with direct impacts on people's well-being. While a well-functioning housing market may augment the economic efficiency and productivity of a city, it may trigger housing affordability issues leading crucial economic and political crises side by side if not handled properly. In global cities e.g. Singapore and Hong Kong where affordable housing for all has become one of the greatest concerns of the Government, this issue can be tackled capably by the provision of public housing. In Singapore, nearly 90% of the total population lives in public housing including public rental and subsidized ownership, whereas the figure tally only about 45% in Hong Kong. Hence this study is an effort to scrutinizing the key drivers of success in affordable public housing through following a qualitative case study based research methodological approach to present successful experience and insight from different socio-economic and geo-political context. As a major intervention, this research has clinched that, housing affordability should be backed up by demand-side policies aiming to help occupants and proprietors to grow financial capacity e.g. subsidized rental and subsidized ownership can be an integral part of the public housing system to improve housing affordability.
VL  - 6
IS  - 1
ER  -

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Author Information

Anutosh Das

Department of Urban Planning and Design, The University of Hong Kong (HKU), Hong Kong; Department of Urban & Regional Planning, Rajshahi University of Engineering & Technology (RUET), Rajshahi, Bangladesh

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APA Style

Anutosh Das. (2021). Public Housing in the Global Cities: Hong Kong and Singapore at the Crossroads. Urban and Regional Planning, 6(1), 41-46. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.urp.20210601.14

Copy | Download

ACS Style

Anutosh Das. Public Housing in the Global Cities: Hong Kong and Singapore at the Crossroads. Urban Reg. Plan. 2021, 6(1), 41-46. doi: 10.11648/j.urp.20210601.14

Copy | Download

AMA Style

Anutosh Das. Public Housing in the Global Cities: Hong Kong and Singapore at the Crossroads. Urban Reg Plan. 2021;6(1):41-46. doi: 10.11648/j.urp.20210601.14

Copy | Download

@article{10.11648/j.urp.20210601.14,
  author = {Anutosh Das},
  title = {Public Housing in the Global Cities: Hong Kong and Singapore at the Crossroads},
  journal = {Urban and Regional Planning},
  volume = {6},
  number = {1},
  pages = {41-46},
  doi = {10.11648/j.urp.20210601.14},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.urp.20210601.14},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.urp.20210601.14},
  abstract = {Affordable Housing, the basic human necessity has now become a critical problem in global cities with direct impacts on people's well-being. While a well-functioning housing market may augment the economic efficiency and productivity of a city, it may trigger housing affordability issues leading crucial economic and political crises side by side if not handled properly. In global cities e.g. Singapore and Hong Kong where affordable housing for all has become one of the greatest concerns of the Government, this issue can be tackled capably by the provision of public housing. In Singapore, nearly 90% of the total population lives in public housing including public rental and subsidized ownership, whereas the figure tally only about 45% in Hong Kong. Hence this study is an effort to scrutinizing the key drivers of success in affordable public housing through following a qualitative case study based research methodological approach to present successful experience and insight from different socio-economic and geo-political context. As a major intervention, this research has clinched that, housing affordability should be backed up by demand-side policies aiming to help occupants and proprietors to grow financial capacity e.g. subsidized rental and subsidized ownership can be an integral part of the public housing system to improve housing affordability.},
 year = {2021}
}

Copy | Download

TY  - JOUR
T1  - Public Housing in the Global Cities: Hong Kong and Singapore at the Crossroads
AU  - Anutosh Das
Y1  - 2021/02/20
PY  - 2021
N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.urp.20210601.14
DO  - 10.11648/j.urp.20210601.14
T2  - Urban and Regional Planning
JF  - Urban and Regional Planning
JO  - Urban and Regional Planning
SP  - 41
EP  - 46
PB  - Science Publishing Group
SN  - 2575-1697
UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.urp.20210601.14
AB  - Affordable Housing, the basic human necessity has now become a critical problem in global cities with direct impacts on people's well-being. While a well-functioning housing market may augment the economic efficiency and productivity of a city, it may trigger housing affordability issues leading crucial economic and political crises side by side if not handled properly. In global cities e.g. Singapore and Hong Kong where affordable housing for all has become one of the greatest concerns of the Government, this issue can be tackled capably by the provision of public housing. In Singapore, nearly 90% of the total population lives in public housing including public rental and subsidized ownership, whereas the figure tally only about 45% in Hong Kong. Hence this study is an effort to scrutinizing the key drivers of success in affordable public housing through following a qualitative case study based research methodological approach to present successful experience and insight from different socio-economic and geo-political context. As a major intervention, this research has clinched that, housing affordability should be backed up by demand-side policies aiming to help occupants and proprietors to grow financial capacity e.g. subsidized rental and subsidized ownership can be an integral part of the public housing system to improve housing affordability.
VL  - 6
IS  - 1
ER  -

Copy | Download