Social service hubs near rental flats among Govt’s plans to help disadvantaged families
SINGAPORE — The Government unveiled measures on Tuesday (March 5) to cushion the impact of income inequality and raise social mobility. They include beefing up support for students from disadvantaged families and helping lower-income families have homes to call their own.
In 2018, about 1,300 rental households took up home ownership and the number has been increasing in the last few years.
SINGAPORE — The Government unveiled measures on Tuesday (March 5) to cushion the impact of income inequality and raise social mobility.
They include beefing up support for students from disadvantaged families and helping lower-income families have homes to call their own.
Leaders from various government ministries, including education, manpower, national development, and social and family development, spoke about these measures in Parliament during a joint segment on building a society of opportunities.
Here are the new measures.
HELP FOR HOUSEHOLDS IN RENTAL UNITS
The Housing and Development Board will have a home-ownership support team later this year to help rental households that are financially stable enough to move towards home ownership.
Read also
The team of five to seven officers will help tenants to navigate ownership policies and processes, including discussing the best options for their needs and budgets, and guiding them in their purchase, Senior Parliamentary Secretary (National Development) Sun Xueling said.
It will check on families to ensure they stay on track to collect their keys.
Ms Sun said the Government has learnt that being able to consult someone and having the human touch were important for tenants.
“We want to provide stronger, personalised handholding for families who are ready for home ownership,” she said.
Ms Sun added that she has met many tenants who aspire to own a home. Last year, about 1,300 rental households took up home ownership and the number has been increasing in the last few years, she noted.
SOCIAL SERVICE HUBS NEAR RENTAL FLATS
The authorities will also launch Community Link (ComLink) social service hubs at or near rental flats, offering better support and customised services for families there.
Social and Family Development Minister Desmond Lee said that these will come up in the next two years in Jalan Kukoh in Tiong Bahru estate, Marsiling, Kembangan-Chai Chee and Boon Lay, for a start. The Government chose these areas because of their profile of rental households with children.
ComLink — an initiative of the Ministry of Social and Family Development and the Ministry of National Development — is expected to benefit about 1,000 families in these estates.
Read also
At these hubs, community partners will have dedicated spaces and can help families by conducting parenting workshops, night-time student care and other programmes based on their needs.
To better grasp each community’s needs, social service offices have gathered community partners, including government agencies and the grassroots. “We want to design programmes and services alongside them,” said Mr Lee.
ComLink will be a platform that allows the wider community — including companies, donors, volunteers and philanthropists — to chip in and make an impact, he said.
NEW OFFICE TO HELP DISADVANTAGED STUDENTS
To help disadvantaged students and strengthen schools’ outreach and co-ordination with the community, the Education Ministry will establish an Uplift Programme Office.
Uplift (the Uplifting Pupils in Life and Inspiring Families Taskforce) is an inter-agency committee announced last year by Second Education Minister Indranee Rajah to help students from disadvantaged backgrounds.
Read also
The new office will work with schools to identify disadvantaged students and map their needs, so that they and their families may be paired with suitable community help or programmes.
It will also match schools with trusted community partners and volunteers to support students’ after-school activities and holiday programmes.
Besides setting targets, the office will also track the feedback and outcomes of the taskforce’s initiatives.
For a start, the office will focus on supporting co-ordination between schools and the community in areas with more disadvantaged students and families, said Ms Indranee, who chairs Uplift. These sites are still being identified, TODAY understands.
LOCALISED COMMUNITY NETWORK
The Government will also begin testing a localised community network in Boon Lay and the Jurong West area from July, to support young people whose lives may be derailed by family issues such as financial difficulty, Mr Lee said.
The Ministry of Social and Family Development will work with schools and the Education Ministry’s new Uplift Programme Office to identify such youth early and offer support.
Read also
Mr Lee said that the authorities hope to better understand the challenges these young people confront at home, in schools and elsewhere — through fuller sharing of data among relevant government agencies.
“In doing so, we hope to help them resolve or cope with the issues they are facing,” he said.
The localised community network will go hand in hand with Uplift’s efforts to support students who are absent from school for the long term or have emerging attendance issues.
It will bring together relevant agencies, schools, voluntary welfare and community organisations and volunteers to help the families of these students, so they do not have to approach multiple agencies.
Stay in the know. Anytime. Anywhere.
Subscribe to get daily news updates, insights and must reads delivered straight to your inbox.
By clicking subscribe, I agree for my personal data to be used to send me TODAY newsletters, promotional offers and for research and analysis.
