Tan Chuan Jin ‘said that his ministry tracks “very closely” the incomes of Singaporeans, to make sure that HDB flats are priced and subsidised so they’re affordable at different income levels.’
What is the govt’s definition of affordable housing? Two pay checks and 30 years to pay the mortgage. Right? Affordable in the past was one pay check and 15 to 20 years to pay. The difference between the two formulas for affordability is like heaven and hell. In the first formula it means two persons working for 30 years and leaving not much for retirement. Further, with two persons working, there is no way for the wife to stop work and look after babies as there will not be enough to pay the housing loan. See where is the source of baby problem?
In the second formula, the wife has the option to work which will provide more extra cash for a better and less financially stressful lifestyle. And if the wife so chooses to make more babies, it will not hurt the repayment of the mortgage. And in 15/20 years, the loan will be fully paid up and the rest can go to their retirement savings.
Both formula are technically right in terms of affordability. But one means work and work and hope that nothing goes wrong with the income before the loan is fully repaid. The other has a lot more slack without both spouses working to keep up with repayment of the loan.
What kind of quality of life and what kind of affordability are we talking about? This is the same kind of situation where some jokers said the island can take in 6m or 9m people while some say 5m is already too much. Everyone is right but at what cost and what consequences.
So very affordable huh? $1000 pm income can afford a 2rm flat. What about the life of the family? What kind of life? Would Tan Chuan Jin’s ministry track the affordability of one income and work on that basis and not one that would empty the savings of two incomes?
Most politicians and Members of Parliament have different wave lengths and different kinds of thinking from that of the ordinary citizens. The former most likely are priviledged people with their golden cups overflowed with wealth and riches and have never known what poverty is or what struggling for a living is like. The latter,the majority of which through the fake and warp system of democracy and meritocracy have never had a chance to climb out of poverty because generation after generation of their kind have to struggle daily from morning to night just to scrape a living with no room for savings. So how could they afford to buy even a cubical house which cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. Affordable housing, they must be kidding.
ReplyDeleteSouthernglory1
It goes without saying that you can only get what you can afford. subsidies might play a part, but there is a limit to how much subsidy the state can give (before it goes bankrupt from welfare "kindness").
ReplyDeleteTherefore if one doesn't have the funds, then one has to accept that the living space one gets will be small.
Life may seem hard...but not when you consider the alternative: low income and homeless.
A small flat may not be "comfortable" , but it is at least a start which the majority of people in other cuntrees do not have.
And when the population is a healthy 9 million, you'll be ever more thankful that you have a nice place in the sky, in a happening global city.
Be grateful for even small mercies. Redbean, stop scremongering lah.
A thousand apologies if I scare you.
ReplyDeleteIf flats are "affordable", how did Sg become the 3rd RICHEST country in the whole wide world?
ReplyDeletehttp://www.asianewsnet.net/home/news.php?id=28136
The tax on ignorance is a lifetime of debt.
Get Cheap Housing Yourself
ReplyDelete—————————–
Keep voting Opposition.
No need to beg the Party Against People to give us cheap housing.
If Opposition wins 2 GRCs in GE 2016.
You will get a U-turn in HDB housing prices & policy.
Then suddenly we will have “inclusive” housing policy.
Just like you voted Opposition in GE 2011
You got a budget U-turn in 2012.
An “inclusive” budget.
40% votes = 6 Opposition MPs
80% votes = 12 Opposition MPs
Don’t worry.
There will be no freak election results in GE 2016 because of gerrymandering.
Tax:
ReplyDeleteStop taxing the bottom 1/3 of society and tax more aggressively the top 1/3
Compared to the cuntree I live in -- Arse Trailer, where our individual tax burden can be as high as 65%, Hotel Singapore is literally heaven on earth when it comes to earning money.
ReplyDeleteGet your facts straight: Singapore's taxes are LOW for everyone unless you smoke, drink and drive a car.
I don't smoke (any more) nor do I drive a car. The reason is obvious: I drink, and I love it. I gladly pay the Singapore tax on booze.
Singapore taxes:
Corporate: 17%
Income: 3.5-20%
GST: 7%
I would say that's not bad a deal. I would like to see the corporate tax go to 15% or less, GST back to 3% and flat income tax of 5%.
Instead of bitching about how hard your own lives suck, how about a celebration on the wonderful possibilities you could have if only you smiled a little more and got off your lazy arses?
I'm just sayin'...
$1000 salary and buy a 2rm flat and slog like a horse for the rest of your life? Aiyah, PRs got it better.
ReplyDeleteThey buy a 4rm, rent out for $2000 a month, pay of mortgage of $1280 and live like a king in their home country.
See the blog publichouse.sg