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Studio apartment scheme supports seniors’ retirement needs, says Khaw

SINGAPORE — The studio apartment scheme for the elderly is effective and helps them in their retirement, wrote National Development Minister Khaw Boon Wan on his blog yesterday.

SINGAPORE — The studio apartment scheme for the elderly is effective and helps them in their retirement, wrote National Development Minister Khaw Boon Wan on his blog yesterday.

Senior citizens who had moved into a Housing and Development Board (HDB) studio apartment after selling their larger flats had net sale proceeds of about S$200,000 each, after paying off any outstanding housing loans and settling payment for the new studio unit in full, revealed Mr Khaw.

Between 2006 and last year, 7,600 households booked a studio apartment, Mr Khaw wrote. Of these, 70 per cent were former owners of a three- or four-room flat. Two thirds of them were below 65 years of age and half of them lived alone.

The HDB’s studio apartment scheme, Mr Khaw wrote, is a housing option for senior citizens who may be living in larger flats after their children have moved out.

“They can then either rent out some empty rooms or move into (the studio apartments) with substantial sale proceeds,” he said. “Both the rental income and the sale proceeds become valuable in supporting their retirement needs.”

The scheme is also particularly attractive to seniors living alone, who will otherwise find maintaining a large flat a chore, added Mr Khaw.

The studios can only be bought by Singaporeans aged 55 and above, and are designed to meet the needs of the elderly with fixtures such as grab bars and alert alarm systems. Said Mr Khaw: “We are taking studio apartments one step further by weaving them into integrated developments, like the Kampung Admiralty which we broke ground for recently.

“The two blocks of studio apartments will have easy access to a hawker centre, public plaza (and) healthcare, childcare and eldercare services, all under the same roof. The co-location is deliberate to promote inter-generational interaction and bonding with their children and grandkids.”

The minister added that the Government will continue to “experiment and try out new layouts to see what will work best for our seniors and to enable them to age actively where they live, in their familiar HDB town.”

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