SINGAPORE — For Madam Purnawati, who lives with her husband and three young children in a two-room rental flat, her dream of eventually owning their home instead of renting it at subsidised rates from the state seems to be somewhat out of reach.

For the past four years, her family has lived in a Sengkang block consisting of one-room and two-room rental flats meant for low-income families who are unable to afford their own home.

Life there can be inconvenient and cramped for them, with their three young daughters aged between four and six sharing the same bedroom in the rented apartment. Her husband, the breadwinner of the family, also works long hours as a Certis Cisco officer, needing to leave the flat at 5.15am to catch the first bus, and returning as late as 10pm.

“My hope is that my children will grow (up) healthy, and I can give them better living and give them our own flat... for them to at least have their own room. That is me and my husband's big dream,” said Mdm Purnawati, 37, who goes by one name. 

But for Mdm Purnawati and her husband, their journey had been put on hold for some time.

For one thing, about a fifth of her husband's monthly salary of around S$1,400 goes towards clearing a housing debt from his previous marriage.

Her husband is also 59, which means that a smaller percentage of his Central Provident Fund (CPF) contributions are allotted to his ordinary account, which could help fund a future home purchase. 

At one point four years ago, they were able to put down a deposit for a resale flat in Tampines, but they ultimately had to give up the flat when they were unable to afford the S$17,000 cash levy. 

On her part, Mdm Purnawati also wishes to work, though taking care of the young children takes precedence over employment.

"For my husband it’s (a heavy burden), but with two (incomes), we can share that burden,” said Mdm Purnawati. "But I want to 'settle' my kids' needs first." 

Her family is one of around 14,000 households under the Ministry of Social and Family Development's (MSF) Community Link (ComLink) scheme, which aims to aid families that live in public rental housing and have children under 21 years old.

Despite being placed with a ComLink officer, who connected her with "befrienders" who supported her through the childcare enrolment process and helped her offset costs such as utility bills, Mdm Purnawati's path to home ownership remains fraught with obstacles.

This is why an upcoming enhancement to the scheme, also known as ComLink+, could give Mdm Purnawati’s family a significant boost through four "progress packages" meant for eligible families.

On Monday (Nov 20), Minister for Social and Family Development Masagos Zulkifli laid out how these packages can support eligible families in areas including children’s education, debt clearance and building savings. 

The four packages will be rolled out from the second half of 2024 and will be trialled for three years to assess how effective they are in providing financial support to families.

In a nutshell, eligible ComLink+ families who fulfil a required action that helps them achieve their financial goals, such as clearing debts or finding stable employment, can receive financial top-ups.

These families can benefit from multiple packages at the same time if they are assessed by their family coach to be ready and eligible.

“These moves demonstrate our community’s commitment to invest in long-term outcomes. Rather than quick fixes, we want to enable families to build resilience and secure sustained stability and self-reliance, and ultimately social mobility," said Mr Masagos in a speech to social service partners at an appreciation event held at Parkroyal Pickering Hotel.

First announced by Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong on Oct 19, the new ComLink+ scheme is born out of the Forward Singapore public consultation exercise, and the enhancements are meant to provide further financial support to families that make an effort to improve their circumstances and include the training of existing ComLink officers to become family coaches.

“We can see early signs that social stratification is becoming more entrenched. In the past, we mostly had older folks staying in our rental flats. Nowadays we see more families with young children staying in these flats, and they are there for longer durations, too,” said Mr Wong.

MSF said in a press release that ComLink+ is developed in collaboration with approximately 170 individuals and organisations, such as DBS Bank, which is involved in funding two progress packages that focus on preschool education and savings. The bank will also increase its volunteer participation.

HOW THE FOUR PROGRESS PACKAGES WORK

Package 1: Preschool education

To address lower preschool enrolment and attendance rates of lower-income children, a progress package will provide top-ups to the Child Development Account (CDA) of ComLink+ families who enrol their child in preschool by age three. 

If the family ensures that a child is enrolled in preschool in the year they turn three, a one-off top-up of S$500 will be added to the child’s CDA. 

To encourage regular attendance, an additional S$200 will be added to the child’s CDA for every quarter in which the child has an over 75 per cent attendance rate in preschool. 

Package 2: Stable employment

A second progress package will provide cash and CPF top-ups to incentivise adults in ComLink+ families to enter and maintain stable employment and ultimately increase their overall household income.

Up to two working family members who find or sustain a CPF-paying job that pays at least S$1,400 per month will be eligible to receive a combination of cash and CPF payouts for every three consecutive months of employment. 

Each adult who qualifies will receive financial top-ups ranging between S$450 and S$550 for every quarter of sustained employment. To incentivise adults to attain stable employment to build finances for long-term goals, a higher top-up of S$50 will be added when two adults in the household work. 

The top-ups encouraging stable employment are capped at S$30,000 in total payouts across this package and another package targeted at building savings for home ownership.

Package 3: Debt clearance

As even a relatively small debt can severely impact lower-income families on a financial, psychological and emotional level, MSF said that a fully donor-funded package providing one-time debt clearance support will enable families to focus on long-term financial goals. 

“With less disposable income and savings, lower-income families are more susceptible to falling into debt or arrears, especially if they encounter unexpected setbacks or have inherited debt,” said MSF. 

The package will hence introduce a one-to-one matched debt repayment scheme for families with verifiable debt – debt owed to licensed companies and organisations with trackable repayments. 

Under this scheme, every dollar repaid to creditors by the family will be matched by a donor directly to creditors. 

Donors will match repayments up to a limit of S$5,000 in total debt repaid, and up to a maximum donor contribution of S$2,500. Families can only benefit from this package once. 

As this package seeks to help families ready to focus on long-term goals, families who are receiving ComCare assistance are ineligible, as that would usually indicate that a family has not yet attained financial sustainability to meet their basic needs, said MSF. 

Package 4: Building savings for home ownership 

For families saving up to purchase their own flat, another progress package co-funded by the Government and a donor is aimed at helping families build their savings by matching and supplementing voluntary contributions to CPF. 

For every S$1 of voluntary contribution to CPF made by a family, a S$2 top-up will be made to selected family members’ CPF ordinary accounts. 

Similar to the package for stable employment, the top-ups under this package are subject to an overall limit of S$30,000 in total payouts across the employment and savings packages.

COMLINK+ FAMILY COACHES

In addition to financial support for those eligible under the four progress packages, all families under ComLink+ will work with a dedicated family coach to co-develop customised action plans tailored to the family’s needs. 

Under the existing ComLink scheme, families receive assistance with goal setting and referrals to relevant partner agencies for support.

Mr Masagos said that the upgrade of ComLink officers to family coaches will allow them to provide "stronger, relational support", as they will receive skills training on how to coach and motivate families. This means they will be better positioned to determine the customised support each family needs.

"When families feel understood and supported, they are more likely to actively participate in the decision-making process and take steps towards their goals," said the minister. 

"With support from family coaches to meet their immediate needs and stabilise their situations, families tell us that they feel more optimistic about their future."