$300 monthly rental vouchers for families awaiting BTO flat
Families that are eligible and waiting for their BTO units are able to now apply for $300 vouchers each month to cover the cost of an HDB flat or bedroom on the market.
The initiative under the Parenthood Provisional Housing Scheme (PPHS), which provides an interim rental home for families with an unfinished apartment that is not part of the Housing Board’s sale exercise is scheduled to run from July 2024 to June 2025.
HDB must be notified by August 31 in order to qualify for the total $3,600 in aid. The applicant’s tenancy must begin at or before July 31, 2020.
The voucher gives eligible households who plan to apply for PPHS voucher enough time to find a suitable tenancy and apply to be eligible for the voucher.
The program provides these families with greater assistance in the meantime HDB is working to increase the inventory of rental apartments for interim rentals under the scheme, from 2000 units at present to 4,000 units by 2025.
In order to be eligible for the rental voucher scheme, families must have an income per month of less than $7,000. The tenants must make sure that they have registered with the HDB has registered their HDB tenant and that their NRIC address has been updated.
In order to be eligible to receive the voucher, those who are fiancees or fiancees must present their marriage documents within the first 3 months of the tenancy period.
Families who qualify will receive the voucher as a reimbursement for their tenancies from July 2024 and June 2025. If a person starts their tenancy post June 30th, 2025 they can still qualify for $300 vouchers that are valid for the month.
The reimbursements will be credited to the applicant’s PayNow-NRIC bank accounts, with each tranche including up to six months worth of vouchers. HDB said the first tranche would typically be about seven months after the date of the application.
Vouchers cannot be prorated for time periods that are not a complete month. To be eligible to receive the voucher at any time during the month, families need to submit their applications by the end of the following month.
HDB has said that those who rent a PPHS apartment from HDB could also decide to rent on the market and then apply for the voucher. They will only be eligible for the voucher after the tenancy of the PPHS apartment has ended.
Families are not qualified for the voucher if they rent a unit from a close family member or relatives.
HDB has stated in March that it would conduct a variety of checks on the tenant’s tenure, which could include physical checks at the address of the tenant, before disbursing the voucher. The HDB can forward cases to the police for further investigation and withhold vouchers for suspected abuse.
The board also stated that the number of applications for PPHS has decreased significantly since it ramped up the supply of temporary housing from 800 units by 2021, to 2000.
In 2021, more than 20 applicants fought for each flat available and by February 2024, this fell to 2.3 applicants.
HDB has announced that on June 13, they are active in reducing the waiting time for BTO apartments. It also said that by 2024, waiting times for 75 percent of the new flats to open will be four years or lower.
If you do not have a PPHS apartment by the end of 2024, then it is worthwhile to apply to be eligible for a voucher.
A PPHS flat will always be my first choice because it is affordably priced for a complete unit. In the open market, I would be able to rent only a room and have to sacrifice some privacy
Rental prices for two-room flats are $400-$550 per month under PPHS, and three-room apartment prices range from $600-$900.
A couple lives apart while waiting for their four-room flat in Bedok to be finished in 2028.
I hope that if renting on the open-market is too expensive, and we decide to decline the vouchers and we are able to secure the PPHS apartment once the supply increases by 2025. We’d rather not be in a secluded area while we wait for our flat.
