Seniors have flexible options, replies HDB
NEW HDB flats are highly subsidised and largely meant for those who have yet to own any property, or who are of an income level where private property may be out of their reach ('Private home owners' by Mr Michael Leong, Feb 23; 'Homes: Help retirees with a flexible policy' by Mrs Doreen Chia-Foo, Tuesday; and 'Help struggling retirees in private properties' by Mr Raymond Koh Bock Swi, Forum Online on Wednesday).
A retiree who already owns a private property and who wishes to monetise it for retirement has a few options.
If he sells his private property, he can buy a resale HDB flat or a studio apartment with the proceeds, without having to wait for 30 months after the sale of his property. He has to wait for 30 months only if he chooses to buy a new HDB build-to-order flat, which is sold at subsidised prices.
Nonetheless, HDB does exercise flexibility to help our residents on a case- by-case basis. Elderly residents who need further assistance can contact us on 1800-8663066, and we will see how best to help them.
Chan-Wong Jee Choo Lily (Mrs)
Deputy Director (Policy and Property)
HDB
ST Forum, 2 Mar 2012
Private property retirees must be realistic
I HAVE difficulty agreeing with Mr Raymond Koh Bock Swi ('Help struggling retirees in private properties'; Forum Online, Wednesday) and Madam Lizhen Zehnder-Zhang ('Don't forget retirees living in private properties'; Forum Online, yesterday).
The Housing Board's primary role is to ensure that young couples have roofs over their heads to raise small families in a tough economic environment.
People who own private properties do not need help as much compared with citizens who are still without a modest public flat.
When my wife and I married in the 1970s, we lived in a rented HDB flat as we struggled to raise three children.
My salary disqualified me from applying for an HDB flat.
In the next decade, we bought our first landed property - a new intermediate terraced house, for $850,000.
After seven comfortable and contented years, we had to carry out major repairs to a leaking roof and a termite-infested kitchen which set us back $35,000.
When I retired at age 57, I decided that it would be more prudent to relocate to a five-room HDB flat.
We sold our terraced house for $1.3 million and bought our first HDB flat for $470,000, paying hard cash.
My wife and I calculated that the cash we unlocked from selling our landed home and my NTUC Income annuity bought with my Central Provident Fund contributions would see us through our sunset years.
By then, two of our children were working while the third was studying in a polytechnic.
We must be realistic. People who wish to live in a private home must have a regular income to maintain it.
We were aware that we could not expect government assistance to maintain a private property.
If we do not plan for our retirement, we cannot blame the Government even if we are saddled with a sprawling private property in a dilapidated condition due to wear and tear.
Heng Cho Choon
ST Forum, 2 Mar 2012
Don't forget retirees living in private properties
I AGREE with Mrs Doreen Chia-Foo ('Homes: Help retirees with a flexible policy'; Tuesday). Retirees who live in private properties are not necessarily well off.
We belong to the generation who started working when we were teenagers. We did not expect government assistance but contributed quietly to the nation's success.
Many of us were ineligible for an HDB flat, but had to scrimp and save to buy and live in a private property. Today, we are old, no longer employable but unwilling to burden our children. Neither do we wish to burden other taxpayers.
Instead of depleting our savings before our time runs out, we are only asking for an opportunity to buy an HDB flat to live in, and to rent out our private property for living expenses and income to cover medical bills.
Retirees are not found only in HDB homes, but also in private properties. But those who live in private properties seem to have been forgotten.
A private property does not necessarily mean a sprawling bungalow, but also an old apartment.
Lizhen Zehnder-Zhang (Madam)
ST Forum, 1 Mar 2012
Homes: Help retirees with a flexible policy
LIKE Mr Michael Leong, my husband and I are private property owners and we do not receive the subsidies enjoyed by HDB flat dwellers ('Private home owners'; last Thursday).
Like most citizens who are slightly better off financially, we accept the Government's policies even though I am of the view that income is a better yardstick to measure eligibility rather than whether a person lives in private or public housing.
I also think that retirees should be financially independent and not use their children as annuities, if they can help it.
To help older citizens like us achieve financial independence, housing policies should be tweaked to help retirees.
Let retirees who are owners of private properties buy new HDB flats or resale flats without having to wait for 21/2 years. Thirty months is far too long a waiting period to downgrade to a public housing flat. The cost of rental could well go towards the payment for the flat.
Retirees should also be allowed to keep their private properties for rental income as this may well be their only means of income, without having to worry whether their hard-earned nest egg will be depleted too soon.
I have worked hard all my life. Retirement is the time for me to relax a little and enjoy my twilight years. Retirees need income streams to sustain themselves.
Would-be retirees like myself are not asking for handouts, only flexibility in housing policies that will help us cope during retirement without having to seek employment or worry the way we did when we were working.
Doreen Chia-Foo (Mrs)
ST Forum, 28 Feb 2012
Help struggling retirees in private properties
PRIVATE property owners, unlike HDB dwellers, are mostly excluded from help programmes and handouts from the Government ('Private home owners' by Mr Tan Guan Rong; Feb 21). While most private property owners are financially better off, it may not be so for seniors or retirees.
In my neighbourhood alone, there are two retirees who are siblings and who live in a rundown owner-occupied home they inherited from their parents. The two, a man and his sister, would salvage waste paper and discarded electronic goods to eke out a living.
Because of emotional attachment, it is difficult to move out from familiar surroundings, especially as one ages. Selling the property and downgrading is not as simple and straightforward as many make it out to be.
That is why the Government should give greater flexibility for retirees to purchase HDB flats to generate a source of steady cash flow from rental payments, provided they have their own funds or can meet the more stringent borrowing requirements for older people without salaries.
There are also other similar situations that the Government or institutions can positively discriminate in favour of seniors and retirees.
Raymond Koh Bock Swi
ST Forum, 29 Feb 2012
Private home owners
'HDB should allow retirees like me to own new flats before selling off our existing properties.'
MR MICHAEL LEONG: 'My wife and I do not enjoy the benefits given to seniors and lower-income groups under this year's Budget, because I do not live in an HDB flat ('Private home owners' by Mr Tan Guan Rong; Tuesday). About six years ago, my wife and I bought a resale executive condominium. We live on my meagre annuity of less than $500 a month and moderate savings, which will not last much longer. We want to downgrade to unlock the value of our property, so that we can continue to be self-reliant rather than depend on government handouts. We want to resettle in a new HDB flat, but to do so, we must sell our property and wait 21/2 years before we can apply for a flat. The HDB should allow retirees like me to apply for and own new flats before selling off our existing properties within six months from the date of obtaining the keys to the flats. This would certainly reduce much inconvenience of having to look for temporary accommodation, and to move again and again.'
ST Forum, 23 Feb 2012
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