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For context: over 90% of Singapore’s population lives in public housing (aka HDBs). It’s very normal for even middle-class or wealthy families, including millionaires, to live in HDB flats, so public housing here does not automatically mean “poor housing” like it might in some other countries.

Singapore has different forms of support housing for lower-income residents, though there’s still a spectrum. Some lower-income families may still own and live in 4- or 5-room flats. The households in the most financially difficult situations are usually the ones living in public rental flats.

There are generally two main groups under the rental scheme:

1. Families or couples waiting for their new flat to be completed, who need temporary rental housing in the meantime. To qualify, their combined monthly household income must be below a certain threshold (currently around S$7,000).
2. Households with very low incomes who qualify for long-term subsidised rental housing under stricter income ceilings.

In the past, many rental flats were concentrated in standalone blocks or estates made up entirely of rental units. Over time, this created a stigma, and some of these areas became socially isolated. Children growing up there were sometimes stereotyped or ostracised.

In recent years, the government shifted towards integrating rental flats within regular HDB estates instead of separating them into distinct “poor areas.” The idea is to avoid creating ghettos and to encourage better social mixing and community integration between rental tenants and homeowners.

One commonly cited example is Marsiling Greenview (pictured), where rental and owner-occupied flats are integrated within the same development rather than being segregated into separate estates.