The Housing and Development Board (HDB) said the building of additional rental flats in the next two years will take place in towns such as Bukit Batok, Punggol, Sembawang, Sengkang and Yishun.
HDB recently announced it would build some 7,000 rental flats for low income Singaporeans.
HDB figures show it’s been increasing the supply of rental units to cope with demand.
Since 2007, the waiting time for applicants has decreased by about 70 per cent from 21 months in 2008 to six-and-a-half months currently.
As at July this year, there were more than 1,500 applicants in the rental queue.
HDB said this is a drop from the 4,000-long waiting list from two to three years ago.
The supply hike comes as a boon to low-income applicants.
Ms Jamilah Jantan was recently successful in getting a two-room rental unit in Jalan Ayer, at S$138 a month. Her husband, Mr Azli Abu Bakar earns S$1,400 as a technician.
Ms Jamilah said: “When the HDB told us that we received this unit, I felt so happy, I cried. Before this, we stayed with other families, sharing a unit, and my son could not play in the living room.”
Source : Channel NewsAsia – 30 Sep 2011