At this point, Singapore’s housing model is a worn-out talking point. Its contours are as familiar as they are ethereal: dense leasehold social housing is how Hawaii can build our way out of the housing crisis.
But Singapore hasn’t kept their market affordable by building more than we do.
It’s true that Singapore has a lot of social housing — that is, homes built and then leased or rented by the government. But it doesn’t have a lot of housing, social or otherwise, compared to Hawaii.
Per person, Hawaii has 30% more housing than Singapore. In fact, Singapore would be in the bottom 5% of housing units per person if it were a United States county.
So why is housing so much cheaper in Singapore than Hawaii? Well social housing helps. But not because it results in more housing supply.
Social housing allows Singapore to create a parallel market to the private one. One where demand is constrained and supply is directed toward residents. Singapore realized that if you want an affordable housing market, you need to rein in demand as much as you need to increase supply.
The banner policy here is a second-home tax. If you want a second home in Singapore, be prepared to pay the price. Buying more than one home can result in a stamp duty, equivalent to our conveyance tax, of up to 65% of the purchase price.
Similar to some of our affordable housing programs, not anyone can purchase a new affordable home. New units come with income limits around 140% of median income and are restricted to residents. And in Singapore “resident” is a far more stringent requirement than Hawaii residency. Here it consists of little more than claiming it; in Singapore it is equivalent to citizenship.
Buying a resold housing unit also comes with income restrictions. They are higher at around 300% of median income. But buyers may not rent out the unit, a move intended to ensure that all buyers are also occupants.
Singapore also discourages new household formation to further limit demand. It designs and sets aside units specifically for multigenerational families. When new household formation does occur, Singapore tries to ensure that housing stock is used efficiently. Parents whose children are starting families of their own, can help their kids get a new home faster by moving out of their (presumably larger) old home and into a new studio or one bed next to their child’s new family.
Advocates of the Singapore model here in Hawaii tend to emphasize only one thing: more supply. And they’re right that there’s no way Hawaii will ever be affordable unless we build more. But they miss that if we just build more, we will have to build first for every overseas millionaire who wants a second home, every investor who wants another Airbnb, every mainlander who wants to try Hawaii for a bit.
Hawaii must build more, but we must do more than construct homes. We need to construct the markets and institutions that will allow these homes to remain affordable in perpetuity.
Makana Hicks, an engineer from Pupukea, is a member of the Hawaiian Civic Clubs and a policy organizer with Democracy Policy Network.
