Families awaiting BTO flats eligible for $300 rental voucher
Families that are eligible and waiting to receive their BTO units may be eligible for a $300 voucher each month to pay for the rent of an HDB flat or bedroom on the market.
From July 2024 to June 2025 From July 2024 until June 2025, the Parenthood Provisional Housing scheme (PPHS) will offer temporary rental homes for families with an unfinished home from the Housing Board’s sale exercise.
HDB must be notified by August 31st in order to qualify for the total $3,600 in assistance. The tenancy of the applicant must commence at or before July 31, 2020.
This gives households qualified to apply for the PPHS voucher to locate an appropriate tenancy and then submit an application.
HDB is aiming to double the number of flats that are available to rent interim under this scheme, increasing it from 2 to 4,000 units by 2025.
Families who make less than $7,000 a month to be eligible to be eligible for the voucher program. Tenants must ensure that they have registered with the HDB has enrolled their HDB tenant and that their NRIC address has been updated.
To be eligible to receive the voucher, those who are fiancees and fiancees must present their marriage certificates within the first three months of their tenancy.
Families that qualify will receive the voucher to cover their tenancies from July 2024 and June 2025. If the applicant begins their tenancy post June 30th, 2025, they can still qualify to receive $300 vouchers during that month.
Each tranche will comprise up to six months worth of vouchers. HDB said that the first tranche usually takes around seven months from the date of application.
Vouchers cannot be prorated for time periods which do not count as the complete month. Families must complete their voucher applications before the close of the month to be qualified to receive the voucher.
HDB has stated that people who lease an PPHS flat from HDB can also choose to lease a market-rate apartment and apply for a voucher. The only time they can apply to apply for the voucher once the lease of the PPHS apartment is over.
Families aren’t qualified for vouchers if they lease an apartment from close family members or relatives.
HDB announced in March that it will conduct various checks, including physical ones on the tenant’s lease. This could include physical inspections at the tenant’s address prior to issuing the voucher. The HDB can send cases to the police for further investigation and may withhold vouchers in cases of suspected misuse.
The board noted that the number of applications for PPHS was down dramatically following the increase in temporary housing units from 800 units in 2020 up to 22,000 units at the time.
In the month of February 2024, there were 2.3 applicants per flat.
HDB has announced that on June 13, it was actively working to cut down the waiting time for BTO apartments. The company also stated that in 2024, waiting times for 75 percent of the new flats that are scheduled to go on sale will be reduced to four years or less.
If you don’t have an PPHS apartment by the end of 2024, it’s worthwhile to apply to be eligible for a voucher.
I would always prefer an PPHS apartment as they are reasonably priced for a complete apartment. If I were to rent an open-market apartment I would be able to rent one room and be forced to compromise some privacy.
The rental costs for two-room apartments range from $400 to $550 per month in PPHS Three-room apartments range from $600-$900.
The couple lives separately in Bedok as they await the construction of their four-room apartment in 2028.
I would like to know that when renting an open-market apartment is too costly and we decide to decline the vouchers and we are in a position to get an PPHS apartment once the supply doubles by 2025. We’d rather not have to wait for our own apartment, even though we live separately.
