Habitat International 27 (2003) 361–380 From universal public housing to meeting the increasing aspiration for private housing in Singapore Tai-Chee Wong*, Adriel Yap National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, 1 Nanyang Walk, 637616 Singapore, Singapore Received 20 February 2002; received in revised form 11 April 2002; accepted 16 September 2002 Abstract Housing offers varied levels of satisfaction and has a social representation that motivates household mobility. Housing also tests the state’s vigour in managing basic welfare provision as well as aspirations for improved quality and status when the middle classes rise in numbers who increasingly reject public housing as a mass-produced consumer good. This higher-end private housing demand has exerted pressure on the developmental state of Singapore to facilitate access as a negotiating term for their continued political support. A questionnaire survey was conducted which confirmed the general attitude of housing owners who aspire after private housing. The paper discusses the rationale underlying Singapore’s housing policy since 1960. It investigates specifically why an effective public housing promotion has to be met with private housing, perceived as better in quality and higher in status, despite continued state efforts to upgrade public housing quality. A price spiral in the early 1990s has however made affordability beyond reach for many. Future plans in satisfying aspirations for private properties have to face difficulties such as high prices, a small and fixed land supply and the competing use of the Central Provident Fund as a chief financing source. A more viable way, perhaps, is by narrowing the gaps including the tenure rights between public and private housing. This is currently under study by the government. r 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords: Housing; Housing affordability; Housing aspirations; Singapore 1. Introduction Housing is a basic human need. It is widely acknowledged that the state is legitimately the authority responsible to ensure that citizens have adequate access to decent housing. In Singapore, ARTICLE IN PRESS *Corresponding author. Tel.: +65-6790-3411; fax: +65-6896-9135. E-mail address: tcwong@nie.edu.sg (T.-C. Wong). 0197-3975/03/$-see front matter r 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. PII:S0197-3975(02)00062-0