How Singapore Solved Housing

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[@redwater2439]

Honestly as a singaporean, my biggest blessings (and curses) are that growing up, I never knew what tax and visa was because I’ve never had to apply for a travel visa or pay tax for anything I bought. I never feared staying out late as a women or experienced natural disasters or even thought about government corruption. Of course Singapore isn’t perfect, but I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else.

[@remyworldpeace]

Majulah Singapura!

[@n0ret82]

GST: am i a joke to you?

[@kylejohnson6775]

How hard is it to immigrate there as an American? Or anyone else, for that matter? As you can imagine, my faith in my government has been damaged profoundly since 2000

[@prata6938]

same lol. i didn’t know what a visa was until i was like in secondary school, even though i traveled a decent bit to the US, China, Korea, London, Thailand and Malaysia. I can’t rmb where else, but I would think normally, most countries would need visas to go at least one of those places

[@aiahzohar5636]

Amen, sistah! From the US--your worth-as-a-person is almost totally determined by how much money you have and, therefore, your value to the government and corporations.

[@samtcy]

I love my 4-room flat. We are located next to a school, right across a MRT train station, food courts, shops, market, clinics, fast foods... Both my husband and I don't even own driving licenses (nor feel the need to) since the MRT station is located just across the road from us. And yes, I love how safe Singapore is. I'm a female and I used to roam around my neighborhood at like 3am in the middle of the night to catch pokemons. lol.

[@DadOfCall]

Is Singapore a welcoming country to tourists/ visitors?

[@kohyenni147]

@@DadOfCall yes!

[@angieje]

@@DadOfCall of course! 😊

[@acheeyk]

New citizens,nothing to eat go back to where they are from........

[@foreiveralone]

@@DadOfCall International tourism is accounted for around 4.1% of Singapore's national GDP, with a direct contribution of $17.7 billion, it is still on the rise. Singapore heavily depends on tourism, which is why many people have lost jobs and are losing jobs in this field of work during the pandemic.

[@enhex]

this amazes me two fold: that their government has to have such low level of corruption to pull that off, and that their leaders had so much foresight.

[@xsomili5501]

I was born and raised in sg and yea wow... ive never thought about gov corruption. And in school everytime we do leadership stuff. I feel like almost all of us try our best to lead and find best strategy etc. Mayhe cuz we are all so scared of losing lol

[@ouroboros_on_the_orange]

True...but imagine you were one of those people working hard your whole life, not enjoying the luxury to buy some land to live from it and government takes it away and gives you peanuts for it as a compensation.

[@wannabewallaby1592]

it surprises me that some of the laws mentioned here can be heavily exploited and yet I don't think that happened and they succeeded greatly

[@m136dalie]

Honestly I think a large reason Singapore can successfully pull things like this off is thanks to their hardline approach to corruption.

[@engifaarliu9732]

when you realize how much our ministers are paid, you will know why there isn't much corruption. Everything in Singapore is institutionalized, from housing to education to financial. Even if there is corruption, it can be easily phrased in a way that it is not. It's an authoritarian country with the illusion of freedom.

[@Thekidisalright]

One additional information to add, although the lease of an HDB is 99 years, a clause in HDB terms and conditions stated that if the flat owner live beyond the years of the lease, he/she will be able to live in the flat until he/she pass on, even if the lease has expired.

[@PunnamarajVinayakTejas]

So it's a lifetime lease

[@nIrUbU01]

@@PunnamarajVinayakTejas No, it can last way longer

[@hengyuhen8603]

So, if u buy a flat with 50 years left in it's lease (built in 1974) when u are 24. Then u lived till 100, you'd pass the lease period by 25 years, that's acceptable?

[@DylanDkoh]

@@hengyuhen8603not for resale, otherwise people will be selling leasing with 3 days left to 18 year olds

[@AzjatyckiCukier]

It is unlikely that a 100 year old building would be left without a re-development, so more likely you'd be moved to a diffirent estate.

[@ben.s.s]

I am honesty surprised how well researched this video is. Most videos I seen about Singapore are way off. You even capture many of the real social issues that you will probably need local context and talking to actual locals to understand. Definitely going to hit the bell and subscribed!

[@TheBooban]

Agree, he’s very good.

[@prometheus7387]

I'm betting a huge influx of Singapore subscribers. I've been with Polymatter since about a year and a half ago.

[@JohnnyBooi]

IKR

[@tjm.]

I checked. You did not. Lolol. Okay you did. =D

[@sarcasticlemon4116]

Bruh the maps are wrong

[@Kodecco]

This guy knows more about my country than me, who lived in the country for over 20 years

[@TheBooban]

Indeed. He was very insightful. Ex PR here. He skipped how foreigners cant own houses though.

[@DarkwearGT]

Its just U stupid

[@Randi-h5q]

@@TheBooban not quite, it's more like they can't own a public housing apartment. But they can own private property, which can be very pricey, and hence only favour high income earners.

[@TheBooban]

Randi Ang are you sure? that wasn’t how I remember it. I think they can buy a HDB, maybe not as cheap, but houses specifically, they cannot own. Private apartments, yes, definitely. Thats how I remember it. I think many countries are similar. Like in Thailand.

[@Randi-h5q]

@@TheBooban absolutely. But to be precise, foreigners who are PRs may own a resale HDB flat; or co-own a new BTO flat with a Singaporean spouse. It's on the HDB website: www.hdb.gov.sg/cs/infoweb/residential/living-in-an-hdb-flat/changing-owners-occupiers/transfer-of-flat-ownership/eligibility

[@DrBluefox]

Hong Kong: wait you guys are getting houses?

[@Deady4u]

more like barbie doll houses

[@oliverm1255]

@@lores996 *China wants to know your location*

[@kinfongyeung5400]

@@lores996 You sure don't get the joke don't you... smh

[@zzzanon]

* getting leases on apartments

[@cy9987]

@Jonathan Williams Yea right as if Hong Kongers were not living in the same coffin rooms for decades during British rules loll Go back and read some history books will ya?

[@Onesteve3333]

Citizens in Stockholm: "Wait? You can build homes on top of each other?"

[@ukrytykrytyk8477]

Same in the entire UK!

[@saunah]

Yeah. But also most importantly, probably, "What? No shoving groups of people, refugees, the poor, etc, into the same suburbs and ghettos? It's more beneficial to mingle, grow closer and thus increase your understanding of all people, no matter class, colour or creed?" Of course it is and nice to see what is a big step towards building empathy and combating racism and bigotry work out. I've been saying this for 30 years. Regulate, don't just build blocks of concrete and stock people there and forget about it. Meanwhile "Short Term Solution Greed Feeders" are still the power elite in Sweden. And many other countries for that matter n Go Singapore.

[@Onesteve3333]

@@saunah hey, you made a valid argument about solving immigration-related issues without making it 90% racist! Kudos! Maybe we should let Singapore run the world, not China.

[@saunah]

@@Onesteve3333 Well, I say, we all already run the world no matter where we're from. But we would be closer to feeling that was true if we continued working as a team. Discarding what does not work for ALL and adopting what clearly does move towards improving life. Then the next guy improves on that and uses the next idea. For what IS true and always will be: the human race will spawn new ideas until the day she is gone. That and learning to work as a team, as ONE pack, is the sole reason we are here now. But along the way we decided we needed to add money and feudal ownership into the mix. We also seem to believe we can't remove it and all sources of inequality and greed. We be crazy.

[@chuasianghoe563]

Did you know that in order to further improve relations between races in Singapore there is a racial quota of sorts for every neighbourhood

[@hb9504]

Singapore's success is very very hard to replicate. It requires a strong authoritarian government yet cares for the benefit of the people, the sheer size of the nation is also a critical issue. Singapore is a city nation which allows the central government to pose very strong control across the country, which is imaginable in other countries. That is why China did try to learn from Singapore, but failed.

[@andylai8187]

China did not fail, but work-in-progress getting better and better of their own format.

[@eHannahMontana]

this is literally china's playbook. its financial/economic foundation was literally built based on what deng Xiao ping learnt from lee Kuan yew.

[@canto_v12]

@Stalin Steel China still struggles to contain its housing market with huge volatility and sudden extreme, nearly draconian changes in lending restrictions. While I wouldn't call it a failure, they are still learning many macroeconomic lessons that a smaller, geographically constrained country like Singapore could not possibly have taught them.

[@tianpeixie2314]

@@canto_v12 China mainly learns from HK though. It was not a good choice. Should learn from SG.

[@canto_v12]

@@tianpeixie2314 Nobody should learn housing from HK. LOL

[@MarekSnip3r]

This should be a series "How (country) X Solved Y"

[@aturchomicz821]

How Austria solved the morality of Electricity 🤗

[@kaiwut]

How Germany Solved The Treaty Of Versailles

[@thebonfireofgains]

I concur

[@8is]

How Sweden solved the Coronavirus crisis.

[@fionafiona1146]

@@kaiwut Germany gets too much attention when "just cause" for war was Austrian/Balkan conflicts were distracting. 1918 politics weren't the most sensible either but had little choice, given the conference of Vienna and Marshall plan were unthinkable.

[@hiyukelavie2396]

No joke, the HDB is secretly one of the biggest reasons behind Singapore's success as a nation

[@tjm.]

Secretly not so secret. Just follow Maslow's hierarchy of needs and try not to fuck up the base to keep it stable. ;)

[@boyan619]

without SIT, EDB, JTC & HUDC there is NO hdb

[@hiyukelavie2396]

@@boyan619 EDB - 1961 JTC - 1968 HUDC - 1974 SIT - 2009 HDB - 1960 Bruh

[@tjm.]

Muhd Sufian lolol. Just got burned bruh. It’s possibly the biggest, but not the only reason for success. All those things you mentioned came in to address various needs along the way. But making sure people have roofs over their heads, along with availability of job opportunities, and social order back then were the very fundamentals that we built our success on.

[@Benjamin-wy4dj]

@Ummer Farooq oh?

[@dee4174]

We need to learn from this. I lived in Singapore for 4 years in the eighties. The flats I visited were small, but they were treated with such pride and respect by the residents. Their homes were lovely and their hospitality second to none. I went to ATT Secretarial school, which was in Tanglin then. Let down by the English comprehensive system, it was in Singapore that I learned how to learn! The patience of my tutors was endless. Thank you Singapore. You impacted my life for the good.

[@Towkeeyoh]

Dang, he even got that proposal “will you buy a house with me?” inside “joke”

[@lzh4950]

In Singapore some people might be in a greater rush to date & marry too, before their salaries rise too much (since household income has to be

[@luisam.7552]

@@lzh4950 oooh please elaborate lol how does the datin program work

[@lzh4950]

@@luisam.7552 The government organises various social activities e.g. wine-tasting I think where participants can get to know new people. IIRC they had quite strong outreach efforts to universities too; think it might be related to raising the country's birth rate. 1 possible concern I see with this program is that their participants might be stigmatised as social(ly) inept/rejects/'leftover' (& thus relying on external programmes to find their future date/spouse)

[@codelyokofanful]

It should be Will buy bto with me? 😂😂

[@Tungku66]

Actually it’s quite true. When I proposed to my girlfriend, I just told her that I am going to apply for a HDB flat.

[@emeraldvirgo]

As someone with family living in singapore (public housing and detached houses), I can atest that their public housing has the best access to public transit, malls, libraries, hospitals, and some right next to beaches.

[@akiokoh7481]

uhm as someone currently living in singapore.. best access? fuck no haha but its better than most other countries

[@josogee]

@@akiokoh7481 As a Singaporean living overseas, Singapore's accessibility in terms of public amenities/ infrastructure is as close to perfection as you are going to get. I mean, walking from your home to the nearest train (MRT) station, in the pouring tropical rain without an umbrella and not getting drenched because there are sheltered walkways everywhere. Where else in the world are you going to find that?

[@tjm.]

@@akiokoh7481 accessibility should not be mistaken for reliability. So yes, in terms of urban planning, one could say the common folk staying in public housing in Singapore enjoys one of the best access there is to various transportation and other amenities. Apart from orchard district, Most markets, food centers and malls are all located near housing estates.

[@XerrosNightscar]

@@josogee You can just afford a fucking car overseas . Im a Singaporean living in Melbourne , i just drive wherever i want . I own my home which is near the beach and im just 30

[@josogee]

@@XerrosNightscar Well, the the discussion is about accessibility of public housing and not affordability of private properties. You are in an excellent situation, so congratulations, but how many people in Australia can afford to be in the same position as yours truly? The last census revealed that around 8.75 million Australians do not own their own homes and Australia only has a population of 25 million.

[@george52066]

Tbh if Singapore just let the market control housing, it would have ended up like HK.

[@cydra-evolution5623]

The Government controls land there.

[@TESkyrimizer]

@@cydra-evolution5623 the government sells the land but the buyers determine what to build there

[@emilia2411]

Also, HK has alot of mountains and hills, which make building difficult

[@cydra-evolution5623]

@@TESkyrimizer The government mandates price control

[@secretsanta1151]

Singapore had a good government that know how to deal with housing. Imagine if those on charged use their advantage to earn their pocket money, it sure will end up like hong kong house pricing.

[@ems7623]

Singapore is something of a special case in modern history and should not be idealized. However, credit should go where credit is due. This way of organizing a housing system is incredibly admirable and efficient.

[@parisgansmuelly1052]

And no children, because the average size of lodging is 1000 sq ft with 2 bedrooms. Not surprised in the least that they also have a fertility rate of 1.15. This statistic alone spells doom for the country. Whatever they're doing should not be replicated.

[@ZOCCOK]

singapore is a city nation. replicating it on a truly country wide scale would be disastrous. Learn from it, but don't blindly copy it should be the motto

[@hutoutpizzad]

@@parisgansmuelly1052 You can't expect much for a country with a population density worse than Hong Kong...

[@SupremeLeaderKimJong-un]

PolyMatter: Singapore China: Phew I get a break

[@lordyhgm9266]

Catch that surgeon yet?

[@rajawali5873]

arent you like, you know, dead?

[@leolau5026]

Not really,cuz the majority of Singapore’s population is Chinese

[@nicholasnelson7365]

Pyongyang:rusty and old apartments

[@HuangGengran]

so you are still a live. BTY you sis is very cute

[@xaostek]

Singaporean here. The hypothetical city mentioned at 1:47 where housing is so prohibitively expensive that adult children are forced to live with their parents IS essentially what has happened here. Applying for HDB housing requires you to be either married, or be 35 years old and have another 35yo roommate to move in with, and private housing/rentals are just too expensive. With many of the societal problems/shifts the youth are facing (marrying early for the sake of housing is a truly depressing thought), it is overwhelmingly common and actually part of the culture to live with your parents well into adulthood. Obviously there are many many more societal problems that aren't covered by the scope of this video, but the line "It's no coincidence that the party that meticulously designed Singapore receives the vast majority of its votes" pretty much sums it up.

[@flytrapYTP]

How are Singaporeans ashamed of living with their parents when Singapore's entire housing system encourages it?

[@Zaza-ho5yy]

35 years old can get their own flat. They don't need to share with another person. Just that the flat size is limited to 2 room if they buy from the government directly but there are no size restriction if they buy from the resale market. Also asians usually live with their parents until they're married unlike their western counterparts who leave their homes at age of 18. It's part of the Asian family values.

[@XmasTree]

Well, here in Brazil it's not uncommon to live with your parents well into adulthood, it's culturally accepted. But even married people or people over the age of 35 often times can't buy a home because it's so expensive. It looks pretty good from where I see it.

[@kareenkalani5383]

It’s to encourage ppl to marry bc u can have a house to raise a family in

[@aksharamiryala29]

people living with their parents is much better than half citizen living in villas and the rest in unhygenic slums. And in Asia people always live with their parents even after they have kids. So i dont think its an issue when it is culturally accepted.

[@yongshengs]

As a young, single Singaporean working adult, I appreciate how you pointed out the idea that our housing policy is indeed a social policy and to an extent, a political one as well. I do feel trapped at times by the fact that I can’t buy my own property unless I get married or turn 35. PAP’s policies have served us well for the past 55 years but I feel that as times change, the zeitgeist and values of Singaporeans changes as well. This means that our social policy has to evolve in sync with modern values and aspirations instead of being overly paternalistic.

[@alex6677]

Yongsheng Soh hi Yongsheng, I’m a Brit living in China, and Singapore seems like such an excellent country, but I appreciate that nothing is perfect and there may be some issues. Can you expand on what you said about SG being overly paternalistic, and how does that effect modern SG society?

[@zeccy337]

@Mr. 8-Bit Doggo I'm a Singaporean and there are couple of reasons. The high living cost is one. Housing here is pretty expensive, though not as bad as other countries. And the biggest thing about being a citizen is the CPF fund. It's something that limits a lot of singaporeans and I assume that is what OP meant by paternalistic. Basically a CPF is just a mandatory saving fund. When you work, you're forced to put a portion of your salary into an account. You can't touch the money in that account but you can use it to pay for healthcare, housing, and when you retire at 65, you can finally touch it. The biggest problem with this is that many people feel limited. They don't want to feel like the government is limiting their spending or what they can or can't do. In the 1960s, this policy was put in place mainly because they wanted to make sure people didn't spend all their money on gambling and alcohol and have no money for retirement. It's a kind of babysitting policy that worked well when Singapore was developing but now that Singapore is developed, it feels like policies like this need to adapt and change as well. Singapore is a very good place to live in, work in, and to visit. I personally feel very happy to live here although I can understand why many people don't. Many people feel that Singapore is too strict on media restrictions, you can't say whatever you want online, if you offend any religion that's an offense. It's definitely different from Western societies but personally I don't mind. I see it as a necessary sacrifice for societal balance.

[@Frxmeister]

@@zeccy337 Adding onto your last point, given the diversity of people in singapore and its history, it is quite necessary to limit this "freedom of speech" or things will get out of hand and riots can occur again, which I think has happened quite recently with the little india riots.

[@evaristegalois8600]

Nothing is more valuable to have the freedom to do what you want with : -your life -time - money In function of your capacity.. Like Benjamin Franklin said "Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety”

[@felixmich1]

Yongsheng Soh I am currently in the same position as you and I don't think so. Public policies are present to serve the public, and not individual wants. If they happen to be the same, the it is good. To almost oversimplify our case, scarcity of land and manpower are major issues and the HDB eligibility serves that purpose. You are absolutely allowed to buy private housing if you have sufficient funding. But given that the purpose of the HDB is to house citizens without the external forces of the market driving property prices like crazy (look at HK), the government is basically saying, if you want to consume cheaper public housing, please contribute to the population. I understand where you come from and I feel you deeply, but as a public policy I think it is right. Just like with cars, the public transport system is honestly extremely well-built and not a necessity. If you want luxury beyond public infrastructure, be (economically) productive enough in society to afford it. If not, the basics doesnt really suffocate you so it's not too bad.

[@Larissa-Raphaela]

I'm 54 and my wife and I are VERY worried about our future, gas and food prices rising daily. We have had our savings dwindle with the cost of living into the stratosphere, and we are finding it impossible to replace them. We can get by, but can't seem to get ahead. My condolences to anyone retiring in this crisis, 30 years nonstop just for a crooked system to take all you worked for.

[@Larissa-Raphaela]

@August-Felix That's actually quite impressive, I could use some Info on your FA, I am looking to make a change on my finances this year as well

[@Larissa-Raphaela]

@August-Felix I will give this a look, thanks a bunch for sharing.

[@Ludix147]

In Vienna, most people live in government-owned flats, too. In Stockholm, apartment leases are given out centrally, but they are owned by private companies. It might be interesting to do a more in-depth comparison of all these policies!

[@mctavishsoap3815]

I have always been into public housing! Would definitely love to see the comparision

[@caelansmith]

I'd be interested in seeing the comparison

[@ulisirius9027]

In Russia most people live in their own dwelling.

[@THEREALZENFORCE]

So year by year, decades by decades the government gets wealthier due to housing prices inflation and the people don't get wealthier. Every flat owner or house owner in Luxembourg, yearly gets 10 to 14% richer on the worth of the home. Never will you make that 100000 to 180000 exponentially yearly value increase by savings. You got the bad deal in Vienna, Stockholm, Singapore in comparison :-)

[@FINSuojeluskunta]

@@THEREALZENFORCE The difference is that poor people are priced out in the latter situation so that the oldest and richest from all over the world can profit while the locals are pushed out. "The people" don't get wealthier, foreign investors and local elites do off of the poor classes. If you want a house go outside of the city proper where space isn't as scarce of a resource. Your grandma making bank off of her flat is an outlier scenario that won't be recurring. Her grandchildren will be off in serfdom unless it passes through the family. Whatever your overlords told you to make investors richer :), good slave mentality!

[@nathanr.9507]

I see Singapore inherited the UK's habit of having 99-year loans

[@kevinclass2010]

Also they inherited Ricardian Economics too.

[@ReizePrimus]

99 years LEASES, not loans. Nobody gonna let you pay over 99 years, you'd be dead before you coughed up the principal and interest.

[@nathanr.9507]

@@ReizePrimus Whoops didnt notice I used the wrong term

[@ZeroRelevance]

Nathan R. You can edit it, you know

[@nathanr.9507]

@@ZeroRelevance Nah, I'd prefer to leave the mistake so his aint out of place

[@prometheus7387]

As a Singaporean, I approve.

[@PrograError]

except when he put the LRTs as LTR... i mean what the F is that? LTR? budget MTR?

[@transitevolution]

@@PrograError The colours for the MRT lines the first time round are jumbled too. Like, yeah right, Circle Line is totally a horizontal line. 6:41

[@PolyMatter]

@@transitevolution Oh no... the colors are right in my design file but somehow didn't survive the edit. If only KZbin had an edit feature… :(

[@kaiwut]

I never knew Circle Line was that small

[@prometheus7387]

@@PolyMatter Well nevermind. At least we know you know the right thing.

[@mattdelarives2537]

This video makes me cry. In my country (NZ), homelessness is up over 300% since 2017. Per capita, you have to go back to 1948 for when there was less public homes in the country. House prices and rent inflation is out of control and people are finding it harder and harder to make ends meet. I wish we were as smart as Singapore where they've perfectly mixed the private and public sector.

[@fawziefuxia]

There is still homelessness in Singapore!! And the sad thing is there isn't much data about it to track in Singapore bc they go under the radar so much. Considering we have a whole govt board tracking population data (singstat) it's very frustrating that they are unable to track homelessness. I think in recent years, a couple of groups manually do walk-arounds to track the numbers, but that may not be the most accurate. Usually a lot of single parents or low-wage workers end up homeless bc housing has honestly gotten very expensive and their situations just don't meet the criteria for subsidies. Also, similar to many parts of the world, anti-homeless architecture is pretty prevalent.

[@winstonz]

HDB type housing is not really acceptable to many kiwis.

[@emmascrivener8109]

@@fawziefuxia yeah but homelessness I feel is way more visible in New Zealand. I was born in New Zealand and I lived in Singapore for 4 years. While i lived in sg I don’t think I ever saw someone sleeping on the streets like here in New Zealand.

[@emmascrivener8109]

@@winstonz true I feel like kiwis an outdated view on housing. We all expect to buy homes like our parents did but in today’s world we honestly can’t afford it.

[@winstonz]

@@emmascrivener8109 if you are deemed "destitute" in Sg, you will be picked up and housed in centres for homeless.

[@ten_tego_teges]

Singapore is fascinating as in every other country a government with such extensive power would just devolve into an autocracy or even dictatorship. The leader would rule for decades and drive Ferrari's around the highways built for that reason only. Instead we have a technocratic state that prioritised launching Singapore into the future by lifting it's citizens out of poverty. It really is a fascinating case study.

[@Yddp3307]

Same like china too, both are amazing considering how their leaders brought almost all the population out of poverty in just a short amount of time, hopefully have an authoritarian government here one day

[@huaiwei]

It is Singapore's good fortune that Lee Kuan Yew existed. The irony is that he was educated in the UK and thus firmly believed in democracy and was fiercely anti-communist, and also wanted to eradicate corruption because of how corrupt the colonists were in Singapore. He believed in meritocracy because he saw how badly managed Malaysia was with their race-based politics and affirmative action which handicapped Malaysia economically even up till this day. And most amazingly, he was firmly opposed to being idolised, as he believed personality politics is not eternal and not good for the country's long-term prospects. Unlike most other political leaders who want to leave their names imprinted everywhere after accomplishing far less, LKY refused to have roads, buildings or ships named after him, have his portrait on currencies, and even repeatedly stated he does not want a memorial to his name when he passed on. When his son, the current PM, wanted a memorial, it caused a huge controversy, and they decided to still have a memorial but dedicated to all the past founders and key contributors of the country. Given a politician with these qualities are so rare, it is no wonder there are few countries like Singapore, not even China. Hence conversely, if Singapore had a founding leader without any of these qualities, I doubt we will be where we are today.

[@canto_v12]

Two critical ingredients keep Singapore in the lead: 1) a family/dynasty that is aggressive, visionary and philosophically selfless in public service, and 2) a lack of critical mass to challenge or topple said dynasty and its ruling party. It has its strengths and weaknesses, but history has been working in their favour so far.

[@kevina2907]

So, is it matter to you? Is better living in the kennel and no dignity. Pathetic...

[@fusion9619]

@@Yddp3307 Chinese government put them in poverty in the first place. They also simply changed the definition of poverty to make it easier to achieve.

[@chloesa4487]

As a Singaporean, I love that I have a safe roof over my head that i call home. I love that as a woman, i can walk alone at night and still feel safe. I also love that i have equal opportunity like anybody else, as long as i am willing to work hard and improve myself from time to time. These to me, are true freedom. And we are very, very fortunate that we have a government that actually cares about its people and not just for its own personal interests (as compared to many other countries). PS. I'm truly impressed by the extent of information you have gathered and put into this video. Kudos to the team!

[@nothing9220]

I can only dream of such thing in here India

[@chlim8311]

Well said

[@chlim8311]

So called America with its freedom but ya’ll ladies can’t walk at night without gettting groped

[@sallyah1392]

No 1 freedom is freedom from fear.

[@sallyah1392]

@Erwin Lii If you are interested to know, Google Dr Liu Thai Ker,, the famous architect who said that Singapore can house 10 million people. But FYI, the citizens have opposed even to increase its population to 6.9 million.

[@pelicanformation3802]

I think the idea that housing is for living rather than for "investment" is a really good idea. Single people should not be discriminated against, but respecting people's need for accommodation is paramount. Singapore has always been a bit controlling with regards to cleanliness and litter and hair length, but I do think we could take a few lessons from here.

[@zyankon8318]

Hair length? Littering yes but no hair length control over there.

[@pelicanformation3802]

@@zyankon8318 it was back in the 70s

[@ahasuerusx861]

"a house is a place to live in not an investment" meanwhile in my country they are getting a lot of house for investment

[@WASIURPA]

In HK, a house is an investment

[@ArtSmosh1274]

I believe it can be both

[@PrograError]

it is also in singapore, but there are heavy penalties. but the government ain't stopping them, just putting a burden by the way of tariffs

[@nicosmind3]

A house is only an invstment if you rent or sell it for more than you paid for it. People often ignore inflation whenever they look at house prices. Ive heard some bullshit spun like "houses double their value every 7 years", but minus out the boom, consider inflation, taxes, and maintenace and the prices remain roughly steady. If you want to VALUE a house consider the mortgage to wage ratio and where houses comapre to it (selling at a high or low)

[@leilanidru7506]

Bitchute is better than KZbin if you treat your house like a rental property in which you share the space with other people, it’s definitely an investment. Coz at worst your mortgage gets paid off by other people or the amount you had to pay is significantly less. And at best, you get: your mortgage paid by other people, get a very comfortable passive income from tenants paying rent, and if the house appreciates you gain a profit from the mortgage you didn’t have to pay. So there’re other ways for houses to be investments besides only depending on it appreciating and having all your assets tied up in a house.

[@dunnowy123]

It's so funny, I just watched a video by the Economist where they cited that same stat, didn't elaborate on how it was actually measured. It didn't really impact the video's final message, but it's funny to me how an independent creator is more thorough than the Economist 🤟

[@JewTube001]

To be fair, he used The Economist as one of his sources and built upon it.

[@jeffbenton6183]

@** x Can you give some examples? (and please cite your sources)

[@vitsadelhole]

is the economist elaborated on every single way each stat is taken in his videos his videos would be hours long

[@marscaleb]

That approach to requiring an even distribution of ethnicity is effing brilliant. I can see why a lot of people would react to that as being a method to subdue races, but truthfully, it forces more integration. Actually getting to know a person does wonders to reduce racism. If people of a given race are actually part of your community and not some distant idea you just see on TV, it becomes much harder to casually dismiss them.

[@Pharoah2]

Sure but lets not pretend the proportions were equal. Indians were the only one’s who’s max rate was greater than their actual percentage within the population, why is that?

[@caffeine9049]

@@Pharoah2 Isn't that better? Wouldn't that would mean that Indians have more leeway when trying to buy flats since their quota isn't as easily maxed. Also, having this quota would prevent stigmatization via congregating large portions of an entire race into neighborhoods.

[@frut_jooos]

@rimacutem of Alsvartrsmiðr its sort of something we don't do, people don't interact for the sake of interacting unless purposefully placed into social situations here.

[@lilmrmagoo]

as long as the ratios change frequently enough to keep up with change you would have less people complaining than you would think. something like a yearly redustrubtion that has a limit of like 0.5% change or if the current ratio is fine then save that percent for if there is a spike of change.

[@kingstowntan4599]

its forced integration , when racism are only for smart people with brain know their rights to choose what to eat , what to drink where to go who to mix and who not to mix . if other says u are racis , this is a compliment saying you are smart to choose who to mix and who to ignore , you have total absolute right to decide for yourself and not be imposed by others threathening you "" dont be racist "".when u have all the right to choose to be racist if u wish to .

[@mikvance]

PolyMatter: "The nature of housing is thus a place to live..." Landlords: (clutches chest in pain)

[@stigmautomata]

landlords: hOw Do tHeY SuRvIvE witHoUt mY hArD wOrK

[@pwnmeisterage]

The landlords in Singapore might not be able to easily turn property into income from tenants. But that doesn't stop them from owning rental properties in Canada. And accumulating private wealth outside the reach of Singapore's "shared public benefit" controls.

[@ILoveYani]

@@stigmautomata lol landlords are good

[@stigmautomata]

@@ILoveYani lol.

[@OLBastholm]

@@ILoveYani Landlords should get a job.

[@confidantduk]

just wanna say as a Singaporean, you really balanced this video on the realities of implementing it. I really admire that, great job

[@Inhumane]

10:56 that’s how my dad proposed to my mum

[@Yadobler]

BTO ai mai?

[@gabriel8542]

lol

[@Alex-pf3tf]

@@Yadobler Liddat win liao lor!

[@mrtup741]

Hello Manstein

[@davidliu2243]

OOF

[@rajvirsingh4552]

The nature of housing is thus a place to live, not an investment. Mind blowing

[@brayanong181]

You should say that Singapore also has private housing, or else everyone not from Singapore would think that the only choice and kind of housing is public

[@KingXKok]

He said 80% so..

[@LogggSapling]

@Jonathan Williams not really, the siezing was in the early days of Singapore, today private property is planned decades in advance with government permission and approval. Private property tends to be much more expensive, hence people live in HDBs

[@LogggSapling]

@Jonathan Williams nope, I mean. That the government has allowed the construction

[@IMADUCKEH]

​@@LogggSapling Guy just wants to be edgy man, don't feed him, we know how it is and that's good enough. No need to kill ourselves trying to educate the stubbornly ignorant. lol he can't even @ properly. If he actually had a stake in any of this he would know that the decades thing is completely false...

[@LogggSapling]

@@IMADUCKEH agreed, no point dealing with trolls

[@raman_mendiratta]

Looks like after trolling him endlessly on his china vids he actually listened

[@Marco-hl6gz]

Hong Kong has an housing problem, sooo

[@garmenlin5990]

Singapore: A mini China

[@zohar9971]

@@garmenlin5990 an actually good china

[@lazergurka-smerlin6561]

@@garmenlin5990 It has the authoritarianism but not the corruption

[@brianstark3932]

Technically Singapore is 74.3% China, as mentioned in the vid.

[@jasonhehe]

great research! adding another info tidbit --- what happens at 99 years -- what really happens is apartments are bought back by HDB usually less than 50 years old, to rebuild into new ones. homeowners are usually happy and look forward to sell back to HDB at market rates and given priority to pick new flats first.

[@miguelormita]

thanks for the info.

[@ExxonMobilCompany]

I sold a couple properties in 2020 and I'm waiting for a house crash to happen so I buy cheap. In the meantime, I've been looking at stocks as an alt., any idea if it's a good time to buy? I hear people say it's a madhouse and a dead cat bounce right now but on the other hand, I still see and read articles of people pulling over $225k by the weeks in trades, how come?

[@marcelrobert9569]

True, the US-Stock Market had been on it’s longest bull-run in history, so the mass hysteria and panic is relatable, considering we’re not accustomed to such troubled markets, but as you mentioned there are avenues lurking around if you know where to look, I’ve netted over $850k in the past 10months and it wasn't some rocket-science start. I applied , I just knew I needed a firm and reliable technique to navigate better in these times, so I hired a portfolio advisor.

[@charlotteflair1043]

@@marcelrobert9569 Would you mind recommending a specialist with a variety of investment options? This is extremely rare, and I eagerly await your response.

[@marcelrobert9569]

@@charlotteflair1043 She is Julie Anne Hoover my consultant. Since then, she has devoted section and leave attention to safeguards that I have been keeping an eye out for. You can locate information about the chief online, on the off chance that you're interested. I made no regrets about substantially adhering to their exchange strategy

[@NazriBuang-w9v]

Lies again? Adopted Homes Abortion Is Murder

[@samlim1280]

Hi I would like to point out that the the third “this” is in fact, not public housing and actually a private condominium but the other two are!!

[@thefantorangster2491]

The last one was the most monotonous looking too

[@samlim1280]

The Fantorangster HAHAHHA shade sis shade!!

[@commentorbot3979]

The third one is what I see every time I drive into bishan smh

[@forfun1458]

1st one is the most expensive housing, 2nd one is demolished. Total wrong info.

[@commentorbot3979]

@@forfun1458 the houses at rochor were so iconic :(

[@sandile285]

Socialism or Capitalism ? Singapore: Both

[@unknownv8462]

Its called neoliberalism

[@Fals3Agent]

@@unknownv8462 lol no

[@tonedowne]

@@unknownv8462 It absolutely isn't. The idea of not having a speculative housing market would give a neo liberal a heart attack.

[@muntadar1655]

@@unknownv8462 neoliberalism is free market

[@Fals3Agent]

@Ali G i'm sorry but you're delusional if you think republicans would support the government buying up land en masse

[@manushag7992]

"A disproportionate number of charismatic smart leaders" Accurate.

[@bobwilliam6242]

Manusha G what if I told you that I read this comment the same time PolyMatter read that from the script 👀

[@carbonglaciers]

@Rohith Hegde you sound like you come from America. I completely agree with you. Singapore should be more explicit and "GRAB THEM BY THE PUSSY!" hahahah!

[@blender6426]

@Rohith Hegde please elaborate on what you mean by authoritarian racist policies.

[@rubicon24]

​@@blender6426 He can't because he's talking out of his ass. Unless ethnic quotas in public housing to force integration between the different races is his idea of what racism is.

[@lzh4950]

@Rohith Hegde Probably because of Singapore's rapid development in the 2nd half from the 20th century, many people here can well remember that "it's even worse in the past" & thus 'populism' is sometimes seen as a dirty word I think, like a sign of being a 'strawberry' or 'ungrateful' or 'uninformed'

[@marylagrange5584]

My husband is from Singapore, I visited and all I can say is it is such a well run country! The economists are brillant

[@wencong1356]

Holy shit. He even got the "BTO aimai" joke lol

[@lemon2524]

I see you in reddit before.

[@wencong1356]

@@lemon2524 uwu good night jiak simi meow

[@shehranazim4784]

"The Singapore Improvement Trust" I guess the "The Singapore Housing Improvement Trust" didn't manage to slip through.

[@factsverse9957]

Underrated lol

[@nulnoh219]

Somebody must have noticed back then how we much we love acronyms.

[@dem0ny653]

LOL

[@cedric85]

very impressive and detailed research, can't imagine the hours spent for research and coming up with this video. Honestly many Singaporeans won't bother knowing how HDB has evolved. There are many penned up frustrations with the overall social system. Seems like a joke to others that younger couples get married to buy a house... But it's true... that said, the housing policies from how it started was indeed a successful model in meeting needs.

[@commenterperson4481]

good research, but bad narration (speech pattern).

[@morahiman1879]

About 20 plus years ago i hated singapore so much so i never wanted to live there so for past 20plus years i never live in singapore it all started bcoz singa pore told me im a muslim so they cant put me in the army. I was a very angry young man then. After living abroad tht many years i realised singapore is not peerfect at all so most muslims like me felt exonerated from singapore progress like as if we are peripheral in importance. Almost 1million of us or about 13% of population are muslims i felt really disappointed n dejected then however slowly but surely i beginning to miss singapore my old friends n family. I miss the smell of singapore i was so use too. Though singapore is not peerfect but ill try to make it best i can. We are getting there hopefully so with all the chaos in the world singapore can n will stay above all tht im sure. Singaporeans can never say outright they are proud of singapore because there many others who have other adjectives to describe singapore but whatever it is im proud of singapore though they marginalised muslims but tht is a changeble options itll change soon

[@morahiman1879]

I hated singapore so much back then tht i never admitted im a singaporean. Things change n situation will neccesitate singapore state policy on muslims in singapore. Just wait n see. Then singapore b almost perfect for me

[@attalan8732]

1. Before you generalise this to other countries (and I'm speaking particularly to those that have an apriori infatuation with government handing out aid to every person and their dog), do realise that Singapore is a spectacular economic exception built upon incredibly strategic geography, small size, a conforming society, and highly productive citizens. This is not most countries. 2. That being said, while it is ridiculous to assume that a federal government could possibly ever get something as intricate as this scheme right, it is possible that the municipal government's of larger cities (such as New York, LA, Sydney, London, Toronto, etc.) could embark on these projects and succeed. These projects require two things - high income government and local government supremacy (the more local the government, the more immedietley accountable it is, and the better it can manage the project). In other words, only governments large enough to have wealth but small enough to be effective - ie. Medium to large sized municipal governments - can do this. We need to care more about local government.

[@g4lukeg4]

That makes a lot of sense, I'd have to agree with you. Thanks for the input.

[@townsound]

Spot on.

[@celeridad6972]

Excellent observation

[@GKS225]

Good point

[@TheBooban]

Do you think Singapore had that from the beginning? They were poor and had race wars with each other. There was no accountability except for accounting to Lee Kuan Yew. Lee Kuan Yew did as he pleased and answered to no one. These projects only require one thing, a man like Lee Kuan Yew. Do it, and do it right. And oh Singapore does not hand out aid. It is not a socialist country. There is no welfare. Far from it.

[@aizoid4735]

Singaporean here: What a lot of Singaporeans and Foreigners don't realise is that the SG government isnt managnimous, neither do they 'truly' care. They just practice Egoistic Altruism. What sets our authoritarian regimes apart from other dictatorial government is: they are smart enough to realise, it is in their own benefit to give their citizens (aka human resources) a higher living standard. Government corruption also takes place here. The key difference here is that they are transparent and takes a different form. Traditional corruption usually have the government stealing money or keeping it away from the citizens. If our government cared for the immediate gains and took everything for themselves, they'll end up being like N.korea and certain African countries. However if said money is invested in citizens, these resources will now be better equipped to generate larger income, then the government can squeeze even more out from their citizens (which is also why our prime minister earns the most in the world at $1.7mil usd a year). Anyone in the right mind would call this out as corruption etc, but this was his legal and open salary. With so much power and money, the best way to earn more money legally while having the support of the citizens is to make each citizen able to earn more (thus they can earn more as a government), while making sure they remove any possibility of complain. We literally can't complain much about the ineffectiveness of our government, because they are effective. They are investing, and also running the country like a company. Its not so much about actual care and concern other than: "its the best for everyone" Unlike the west where which crazes after (what i would call extreme/borderline anarchistic) freedom and the east (what i would call extreme/totalitarian) order, singapore lies somewhere in the center. We are granted pretty much freedom to do what we want... But we have quite a lot of laws and regulations to never do some stuff. To the west, we seem almost indistinguishable to an authoritarian country, and to the east, we are radical liberals. Thing is, we just take compromise. Tldr: Game theory dictates its in both parties' (state and citizen) to improve each other's life and not take the advantage of each other. The government recognise this and enforces it stringently. But that's okay, it works, until maybe some other better form of government appears. This has been human history and will be human history.

[@Bluedragon2513]

Thank you for writing this. It very much so condenses or rather conceptualizes how this government interacts with its people.

[@GnaRocksTheWorld]

0:40 that is not public housing; that is a private condominium complex designed by world-renowned architect Moshe Safdie (look up Sky Habitat Singapore)

[@randomcatmeow1394]

I loved that building honestly, but its prices are sky high. I have a friend who lives in it and the space is so small due to the prices.

[@xorlux]

Yep , im from malaysia but my grandparents are living there , we have a couple of our relatives residing in singapore and half of them scattered around malaysia , i really love Singapore's housing , and the fact that they repaint their colors every 5 years makes me excited when im going back to visit my relatives .

[@marr1379]

Singaporean here! Love that we're getting some love on KZbin!!

[@TheSunMoon]

Nice name dude.

[@MagnificentCreature]

Same

[@yangularity2663]

Sounds like communism.

[@melaniepang5067]

ayeeee

[@cdhr6743]

WOO! We're finally noticed by the web!

[@mattc7420]

I'm so Americanized that I can't comprehend a government that wants to raise the quality of living and gets the job done right the first time.

[@FoodOscar]

Singapore is the most awesome place I've ever been to. The people are so friendly whenever I'm asking for help. The food is just incredible and extremely cheap at Hawker Centers ($2-$4). Not to mention Ride Sharing (Like Uber, but it's called Grab) is dirt cheap too I'm trying to upload more Singapore videos on my channel. Such an amazing country guy!!!

[@LooNciFeRx]

Your videos look good! Except it has all been about Vietnam so far.

[@yuming8845]

It feels so surreal seeing one of your favourite KZbinrs mentioning Sengkang LRT when I literally live next to it.

[@chubbydawme]

Hold your horses.

[@staph8022]

sengkang lads

[@Brainiac_and_a_half]

I lived in Singapore for almost two years when I was a kid, and for the first year or so my family lived in two separate condos and I remember them being really nice and fun. There were restaurants on the bottom floor and a pool.

[@davidliu2243]

Ah yes. The swimming pool. I swear, as a kid I couldn’t live for a day without swimming in the condo.

[@getpriyanka]

I too lived in Singapore like for 8 years, and let me tell you, I stayed in these public houses(named HDB's there) and there are the most spacious rooms ever

[@walterwong3999]

Wow this is an amazingly nuanced and considered piece of analysis. Great stuff. Usually these videos abt Singapore are woefully biased - either as a cheerleader for current policies or to play up authoritarian tropes. But this has such a fine level of nuance and understanding of local sociopolitical and cultural dynamics. Really great stuff.

[@Jeromelyc]

Its nice to note that if you default on your bank loans or go bankrupt the bank cannot seize your house as it is legally protected by the HDB.

[@C-ly-de]

Does it causes problems when you want to buy a house like tthe bank whant to be sure to get it's money back so they make it harder to get a loan ?

[@xsnovv]

@@C-ly-de To answer your question directly - Not really. But one thing people not from sg are forgetting is that one the biggest benefits of HDB flats is that people are able to use their retiring funds to help put a downpayment/buy their houses. Since you're forced to contribute 20% of your wages and your employees contribute 17%, you actually end up saving alot of money that you can use to buy a house. Furthermore, since the housing market is controlled; housing is cheap (lets say on average it costs 500,000 sgd). 20% downpayment of 500k is 100 thousand dollars which if you earn the avg pay in sgd, wont take you very long to afford. Finally, ontop of that, there is major incentive to buy a house with your partner - meaning two people's contributions makes it much easier and sustainable to buy.

[@lzh4950]

6:23 Fun fact: This "new towns" zoning system is used only for urban planning & public housing *construction* . Public housing *maintenance* & social services on the other hand is handled by town & community development councils (TCs & CDCs), which are organised according to the country's electoral map instead, which also changes before every election (so you can end up with geographical paradoxes e.g. the geographically north-eastern town/suburb of Serangoon is under South East CDC, as it's under the Marine Parade constituency, which also covers the namesake south-eastern town). Meanwhile private housing is organised based on a yet _another_ zoning system - the 28 postal districts that also formed the basis for the country's 4-digit postal codes (used from the early 1980s-1995; since then the postal districts have been reformed into 82 postal sectors instead)

[@Buckzoo2030]

Singapore model proves free market is not the only way to success. If fact free market housing only leads to instabilities.

[@nataliekhanyola5669]

Exactly.

[@xavierrc]

Man, this infrastructure is unbelievable! I’m from Canada and we have a housing market crisis

[@darkz1563]

ur complaining lmfao

[@KodakKid33]

Singapore is basically the ideal authoritarian state. Like I would never want or trust authoritarianism, but if a state is going to be authoritarian, this is the way to do it.

[@리주민]

I would say more authoritative democracy. There are free elections, but vast majority are used to or like the ruling party (like LDP in Japan). With the speakers corner for protests and speeches, it kinda has early 2oth century vibe... but with universal suffrage.

[@claudiagabriela1638]

Because democracy Is the best of the worl

[@prometheus7387]

They're kinda democratic I'd say? Because in the next general election we have the power to oust the PAP. The question is: When nothing bonkers has gone wrong with the PAP, why would we even bother?

[@prometheus7387]

@@claudiagabriela1638 Democracy in its purest form is really bad (see: USA). You need to have a healthy mix containing the best parts of democracy, socialism, communism, facism, authoritarianism, etc. so that you have a healthy ideology

[@claudiagabriela1638]

@@prometheus7387 well monarchy with strats like novelty burguesy and people is a good posibility before, now obviusly you have no choice, but democracy when being represemtative but without having an important figure to blame for bad politics usually makes corruption

[@zqlimy]

Actually there were some 30 years and 60 years leases that have expired and the government took back the properties and shifted the residences elsewhere.

[@siddharthiyer1120]

Could you imagine a law like that being passed in the US? "If the Gov't wants your land because it deems it best for the people, they can take it and pay you far below market value for it". There'd be riots lmao. IN all actuality the military would probably end up owning like all of it under the guise of 'national security' lol

[@nunyabiznes33]

US don't have Eminent Domain?

[@danielmorris8748]

@@nunyabiznes33 Eminent Domain pays you above market rates like really above market. Most people would cheer if it is used for their house.

[@williamweigt7632]

Don’t forget about assigning addresses based on race.

[@nunyabiznes33]

@@williamweigt7632 "Eeeeek that's reeecist reeeee!"

[@A.Froster]

@@williamweigt7632 Oh, i could already hear the screeching. Strange how that worked so well for Singapore

[@nerdspice6076]

I lived in Singapore for a year and I wish my home country was like that… I lived in other countries for about 2 years each, and I would say no other country is like Singapore. It’s a model country.

[@elonmuskfunnymoments8062]

As a HongKonger who now lives in Singapore, I can tell you the 90% satisfaction rate is really true. It’s so good it’s really hard to find fault...

[@elonmuskfunnymoments8062]

Jeremy Wong I don’t think u understand what they mean by satisfaction rate. You’re not unsatisfied with the quality of HDB flats. You’re unsatisfied with your own socio-economic status.

[@mrtaoroo]

Can your kids go to public school there?

[@weareham3068]

I was JUST reading all about Land Value Tax and Georgism, and I was looking for better videos on Singapore!! Its like you read my mind, great video!

[@mustachiopistachio7224]

@Poes what's georgism

[@mustachiopistachio7224]

@Poes so it's like a compromise of socialism and capitalism

[@schumanhuman]

Been a Georgist for a good while now. Singapore can at best be described as quasi-Georgist. They do collect a good deal of land rent but mostly via leases, and public housing is a sub optimal or at least different means to an end vs LVT, though admittedly Singapore do it rather better than say Hong Kong. The problem with leases, particularly commercial leases, is they do not eliminate speculation upon the duration of the lease not the debt needed to facilitate this. This adds to general boom bust dynamics. A regularly assessed LVT would be far more efficient and reduce volatility as well as create a more stable tax/revenue base. Btw It was actually Georgist economists that first predicted the 2008 crash back in 1997 based on land price cycles. This article explains how www.exponentialinvestor.com/technology/boom-times-are-here-again/

[@schumanhuman]

@@mustachiopistachio7224 Georgism was largely a return to many of the ideas laid out in Adam Smith and David Ricardo and the classical economists most of whom supported a land tax. Georges closest ancestors coming both just before and influential upon Smith were the Physiocrats who originated the term 'laissez faire', however the Physiocrats though for small government intervention did support a 'single tax' on land values which they considered the gift of nature (they were writing in pre industrial France) Henry George was not a highly original thinker but it was the way he emphasised and consolidated many of these ideas to their radical conclusions. Whether you call Georgism ultra capitalist/laissez faire or socialist or somewhere inbetween depends somewhat on how you define these terms beforehand. For me if Georgism is in any way socialist, it is only that it socialises what is socially generated in the first place, land values. A market free from rentierism and free to work and trade without taxation upon these activities is, broadly, the goal.

[@Oqwert]

Singapore's system also kind of resembles market socialism as the government owns a huge percentage of enterprises and land in the country.

[@giangle9234]

This is especially impressive if you consider how crowded Singapore's population is. It's literally an island smaller than San Diego, yet home to a population 4 times as large. Without the same housing crisis and homelessness problem.

[@flaminzzz]

My mum has the idea that the fires were caused by the government, which frankly is possible just from the law you stated

[@nulnoh219]

That's our "911 is an inside job/Bush did 911" moment. LKY did Bukit Ho Swee!

[@keltondavis4559]

@@nulnoh219 except there is clear incentive and action on the incentive (to aquire free land) by the government. Whereas what is the incentive for bush creating 9/11.

[@gilbertteo]

flashbacks to reichstag fire

[@elevatorfilmersg]

PayDayToday Yeah the rumour that the 1961 fire was intentionally caused by the PAP might be actually real

[@ganjafi59]

kelton davis the military industrial complex getting contracts from the government to equip US troops going to war with Afghanistan and Iraq.

[@eshtermaria6884]

Singapore is the only country that began as "dictatorship" and became successful democracy. WOW to Singapore.and its people. You are on my bucket list to visit.

[@BocchiTheGlock021]

Malaysia: Inflated housing prices, income inequality, racial tensions but hey at least we get to criticize the government.....for now.

[@Misuci]

Are you happy about that trade off ???

[@muhammadsukriramli8041]

Yeah I don't think I will ever be able to own a house

[@Misuci]

@@muhammadsukriramli8041 You might would like to listen to Alan Watts, and accept that your life is less permanent than anything in Singapore. If you want land ownership, home ownership before you die, I will die too, you should consider to visit other less developed countries where property are way much cheaper , countries in eastern Europe for example , and properties are truly yours after purchase.

[@muhammadsukriramli8041]

@Chinese Cannabis Party CCP that what the government want you to think, in reality it doesn't help much

[@muhammadsukriramli8041]

@Chinese Cannabis Party CCP yeah I hate to admit it but you're right

[@zoeng9026]

major update: its fucked now. people are buying new public housing and treating them as private property by buying and selling that seriously amped up the resale market. There is a resale market for these housing. because our land is so scarce, new public housing usually requires 5-6 years of waiting. One unit in a relatively central to east area, can cost between 800k to 1 million.

[@JC-gp6bd]

Exactly, the pricing is ridiculous right now. Solved it? now it is doomed

[@Onion_Knights]

Been to singapore and hong kong (stayed there). I like how singapore HDB flats is near to necessities and restaurants. Everything is simplified and public transportation is great

[@DIEiGaMeR]

Can you make a video on „how switzerland solved democracy“ - explaining how their system of direct democracy works, what the benefits are and whether it is implementable elsewhere

[@damienlee927]

Without reading most of the comments, I can already guess some will be complaining about the 99 year lease on HDBs. And without even going into the intricates, just for a moment, think, with your brain, what will happen in 50 years time if people can own it indefinitely. And also, use some common sense and start thinking, how safe will buildings be, even if it is build to be the best, after 100 years? These are things you don't need a phd in economics and civil engineering, to understand

[@liarwithagun]

Depends on how well built and maintained the building is. There are perfectly livable buildings in the US that are over 120 years old. In England there are buildings hundreds of years old that are still perfectly fine to use because they were maintained well.

[@fenglihang]

I noticed some criticism of the political system here amongst the comments by Western viewers, and I want to provide some context and my opinion as a Singaporean on this particular policy and why I think despite its heavy-handed nature, it was necessary for our country. I imagine that the idea that the government can have such absolute power in influencing the way people live seems unimaginable and terrifying. While growing up in a democracy can certainly lead to this kind of perception, I think it's important that people recognise that this political system was essentially born out of necessity (the need for stability during the tumultuous period leading up to self-governance). The policies and rationale behind them were equally necessary. The racial quota, which ostensibly "forces" people to live together is shaped out of the experiences of various riots in the 60s, all due to differences in opinion of different races. This concept of creating racial harmony continues to significantly influence public policy, and is often deemed as to be more important than individual freedoms. Similarly, this rationale was applied to the forceful acquisition of land (which I know seems Communistic or totalitarian as some viewers have asserted). As with anything, context is important. It's easy to look at this as an instance of the government applying unnecessary and intrusive policy to transgress upon one's freedom to own property when inspecting it from the lens of a citizen whose country has no shortage of land. Singapore was not blessed with the same privilege. As PolyMatter had pointed out in the video, we are ultimately a small country, and the housing crisis had escalated to a point where slums were common, and contributed to public health and safety crises. Imagine if the government had chosen not to impose its will. The inequality would likely remain prevalent, as private developers are free to charge sky-high prices to turn profits. As such, due to our unique circumstances, this policy was crucial in shaping our development as a country. So, I hope that some of the commenters who have expressed strong objections citing our government's practices as "communistic" and "totalitarian" can take some of the contextual information into account. It's all too easy to assert that ALL communist, socialist, or authoritarian states are necessarily bad for its people, but the truth is that politics and public policy are far more nuanced than that. From every system, there are lessons to be learnt. I'm not saying that everything that the government (or the PAP if we're being edgy) has done has been 100% right (just look at the recent mishandling of COVID-19 in foreign worker dormitories for instance), but I think it has definitely been essential in driving our development. Before hastily making a value judgement of a state based on its political system, evaluate its policies by setting aside biases and looking at the context of said policy as well as the outcomes. You may find yourself reaching a different conclusion entirely. Thanks for attending my TED talk

[@shotelco]

You have to take these negative comments from many Westerners (particular from the U.S.) with a grain of salt. They (we) can not see their own insane hypocrisy. They (we) dwell in the privilege of a society built on Slavery, genocide of native peoples, unprovoked wars of conquest, forceable removals of democratically elected governments in other Countries with the replacements of brutal puppet dictators, assassinations of other countries democratically elected leaders requested by banana companies, mass incarceration of its own citizens of color, unapologetic murders of 100's of thousands of civilian women and children under the lie of WMD's, centuries of State sanctioned racism, sexism, and culture bias, unwarranted colonization and attempted colonization of countries by militarily action, manipulation of the global reserve currency, ...and...well you get the picture. These comments come from a false belief in divine ethnic and cultural superiority. Honestly you have nothing to prove or justify to this type of hateful criticism.

[@captainheat2314]

@@shotelco you do know nearly every country on earth also did this and dwelling the past when it has gotten better gets you nowhere

[@shotelco]

@@captainheat2314 I don't disagree with you. My position is not to "dwell" on the past, but to realize that ones own past history is an important consideration when making ethnocentric criticisms of another culture and society.

[@timmyturner327]

@Lihang Tong I agree with your comment and wish more fellow Westerners considered the unique situation of Singapore when they discussed the PAP government and its actions. To insist that everyone has to follow your model or else is awflly egotisic and narrow-minded.

[@udipta21]

I live in Singapore and my god the level of research and accuracy in this video is staggering!

[@michaelfan6449]

To be fair though, Soviet era commie blocks are pretty good. They are cheap to build, versatile, easy to implement, a lot easier to plan, and are efficient. The only thing is that they don't look that good, but that can be fixed.

[@excitableboy7031]

Youve never really lived in one have you. They're cramped, and you can hear your neighbours doing basically everything. Did i mention they're cramped?

[@michaelfan6449]

@@excitableboy7031 The problem with most commie blocks are that they are old and politicians don't bother renovating them or the people don't have enough to renovate them. The original commie blocks were made to solve a housing crisis as fast as possible and thus were small and didn't have amenities like proper sound-proofing. Also, most apartments nowadays are small and cramped and still abhorrently expensive. For the price that they cost to build and to rent, I'd still say they're better than alternatives for most people.

[@fireincarnation2]

The size, soundproofing and insulation are all fixable problems not inherant to the great design ideas.

[@azuaraikrezeul1677]

​​@@excitableboy7031depends on the style the japanese commie block apartments are very spacious.

[@starsoffyre]

Very well researched video. A nice touch that you picked up the local joke about "will you buy a flat with me" as a form of marriage proposal. Definitely true! I'm happily living in my parents' 30 year old 5-room flat rent-free. This would be a stigma in other countries where you'd be expected to move out by the time you're an adult, but it's the norm here since most young adults aren't expected to be able to afford a home until marriage.

[@imsara_h]

you're 30 and live with mum and dad? i mean, you have not grown that is a FACT. there's no stigma it's a universal truth. it's only the norm to live with your parents because you can't afford to move out at 30!!

[@starsoffyre]

@@imsara_h Are you from Singapore? Pretty common to have 3 generation families here. My parents have technically never lived away from my grandparents. Legally, if you're unmarried, you can't buy subsidised public housing (which is 80% of all homes) until you're 35. A 2-room private apartment costs nearly $1 mil so it doesn't make financial sense to get one even if you can afford it.

[@imsara_h]

@@starsoffyre USA born and bred. you're living with your mum and dad because you can't afford to move and it stunts your growth as a man and person. no wonder the birth rate in singapore is declining

[@jacquelineng383]

Thus far the most detailed explanation on Singapore's housing on KZbin. Thanks for the effort !

[@anatoleh1]

Beautiful video. Singapore succeeded, but I don't think that the rest of the world should go the same way. This style of management only truly works on small scales with high government control, as shown by history.

[@WanderingExistence]

Community land trusts create similar entities, but as NGO'S, that have worked in the US. Community land trust even helped black sharecroppers start owning their own land back in the 60's Look into CLT's.

[@THEREALZENFORCE]

So year by year, decades by decades the government gets wealthier due to housing prices inflation (paid 20% of your salary and 17% by the employer, a wooping 37% total) and the people don't get wealthier. Every flat owner or house owner in Luxembourg, yearly gets 10 to 14% richer on the worth of the home. Never will you make that 100000 to 180000 exponentially yearly value increase by savings. You got the bad deal in Vienna, Stockholm, Singapore in comparison and their mostly state owned public homes. Singapore the most expensive communist housing ever in Human history.

[@egg-iu3fe]

yeah I can't see this working in a country with a far bigger population, the government would just screw it up

[@bryanyam7350]

Dear Polymatter, thank you for this video on my home country. I would like to highlight an error in the video, the building shown at 0:39 is not a government flat, but a private condominium. As much as I like that Singapore's public housing is being shown off, we need to be honest on what is and isn't public housing. Thank you!

[@linzixuan29]

Is that ec ?

[@matt-bl4tg]

My eyebrows were raised the whole video through. Extremely impressive stuff

[@kilerkai]

Meanwhile in Hong Kong 20 People live in a 25m² Apartment in tiny Cages.

[@alex6677]

kilerkai yes HK housing, and land usage, is a catastrophe. There is so much disused land in HK; why can’t it be managed properly? Some say it that it is mountainous, which is true, but with modern construction technology, that is definitely no longer an issue

[@fenrirgg]

@@alex6677 But there is interest in keeping houses scarce and not affordable.

[@flytrapYTP]

@@fenrirgg gotta keep that money flowing.

[@bandombeviews6035]

Alex That’s how Hong Kong makes money. They wouldn’t be nearly as important globally if it wasn’t for their low tax rates. Instead, they sell land.

[@dirremoire]

Hong Kong’s housing problems would improve considerably if they would renounce their “special status” and become a regular part of China. The amount of corruption between Hong Kong’s banks, government and real estate developers is staggering..

[@glitchyikes]

The racial quota is created with the backdrop of Singapore's struggles with racial issues prior to independence. By forcing different races to mingle in school, work, eat, sleep near one another, one have to adapt and trust people around you. Thus reducing risk of racial inequality and related issues.

[@ArtSmosh1274]

I like the idea but shouldn't be force maybe a incentive better

[@glitchyikes]

@@ArtSmosh1274 Singapore during the 60s have experienced racial riots. Distrust among races is high. It is not safe for example a Chinese to go to a Malay community and vice versa. Without forced and relying on mere incentives, races will continue to be divided, living in segregated communities.

[@migkillerphantom]

@@ArtSmosh1274 ethnic groups tend to naturally self segregate. The forced quotas are necessary to prevent this tendency.

[@리주민]

Think school integration of the 50s and 60s was going for the same thing in the States.

[@contrarian2496]

The ethnicity quota ensures that every housing flat has a mix of different races. The majority will be the Chinese, the remaining quota have to be minority races, but not all housing flats will have the exact demographics and that's what's interesting. For example, certain expensive housing flats will comprise of majority Chinese and the minority are mostly westerners. While some housing flats in places like Little India will have majority Indians while the Chinese and Malays are the minority there. So it's a dynamic policy that ensures racial mix but it's not a perfect mix of all races. There's also the issue of minority races who can only sell their flats to buyers of minority race, and the prices are usually much lower than flats belonging to the Chinese, but that's due to Demand-Supply economics, not particularly a flaw in the ethnicity quota policy.

[@mcvgs1780]

Looks relatively good to me. There's no perfect system but this one seems to work best (for Singapore atleast). I don't think its easily applicable to other nations though as Polymater has said. We'd need better politicians for that.

[@ishitrealbad3039]

You don't need better politicians, you need better voters.

[@danielsaraolu5343]

I am Romanian as well as Canadian. Born in Romania never thought I would see my native country ranked as #1 in the world in home ownership. Wow, Romanians need to cherish that, because people in G7 , G20 and other countries work hard to pay for a roof above their heads. Not a reason to become lazy but one to focus on building a strong economy. Congrats to Singapore for having solved the housing problem in a humane way.

[@RFLCPTR]

You can actually thank the Communists for that.

[@exploringim6191]

I live in Australia, and we have worries about public housing, because there isn't enough of it. I wish we could implement some of these rules here. a) I think "government ownership" is an interesting term. And important. If you could own your house, but the government could create waves of upgrades with different levels of compliances required, that would be neat. The buying and swapping of houses and owning one property is also pretty neat. Like, the government owns all the land. You can buy your land from its last holder, but the government can up living standard requirements, forcing you to accept and invest in certain things. It could also, for instance, ask to increase home level, insert new safety measures, but you would be allowed to say no to some degree, and it would have to be affordable. If you brought your home from the government, or from the prior owner, you could customise it as you liked, and hand it over. If you were "renting" from the government, you could only customise non-permanently. Having it so you could only own one property means you either pay a prior own as they move somewhere else, or you pay the government, or sell to the government when you move somewhere else. The government could even do deals or swaps, like, one room for another. Having certain room types or house types means you could take a property, measure it, and the label and cost it equally with other properties, so more was paid for more land, and less for less. b) I find the idea of the "will you buy a house with me" partner subsidy so interesting. Along with racial divisions. I live in the middle of nowhere. As long as governments kept track on it, and made sure to make it publicly known, it might be okay. And to have a certain leniency to some but not all. I don't think I would mind, especially with the rail systems and others living close enough. They'd also have to measure population to keep the percentages equal. And they would have to make branches happen, so that families had options of staying close. Tricky, but the whole thing could be very rewarding if done right. A good idea to explore and tinker with. Well stated.

[@WarriorOfWriters]

The rental and housing crisis in Australia is frightening. In live in Perth CBD and my rent increases next month. Nothing in Perth is anywhere near as cheap as what I'm paying.

[@WarriorOfWriters]

The ALP needs to live up to its original legacy instead of being Liberal Nationals Lite.

[@bowlampar]

If government doesn't intervene in housing industry, many will be homeless in Singapore, the island nation is limited in land with too many residents. Privately owned housing is too expensive for most citizens. Government well managed HDB housing program managed to remove such 'eye sore' from this island nation.

[@-ragingpotato-937]

Wow, I've never seen a political idea that makes me say "this wouldn't work at all anywhere else" as much as this one. Huge kudos to Singapore for making it work, but holy shit, that amount of power is very, very, very sketchy.

[@casserol2202]

if ever a day arises where the Singapore government becomes corrupt will be a very sad day LOL though there is a considerable amount of opposition, there is a large trust in the ability and honesty of the PAP government. Honestly not sure whether the checks and balances put in place will be effective in the case of a corrupt government

[@zeccy337]

@@casserol2202 Very true. PAP is our one or nothing. I'm sorry but there won't be another party to take over. People have been speculating for ages that WP will win and bring great changes, but I personally doubt it. We only are where we are today because of PAP leadership and it is a unique system because it has the best of both worlds. The efficiency of an authoritarian government and the accountability of a democratic one. We know that opposition won't ever win, but the fear that they will is what's keeping them from going corrupt.

[@laurentmisso6732]

@@zeccy337 haha no. Party =/= State.

[@kx4998]

@@laurentmisso6732 That is true but in singapore when we are talking about the government we are usually referring to the PAP.

[@teddytatyo]

@@zeccy337 Nah, its not about PAP or WP, its about the people in charge and how they manage things in Singapore, if there ever was a group of competent and capable people in say WP, whos to say they won't be in charge one day?

[@pacefactor]

I seriously LOVE how you actually talk about these things in a truly neutral tone, looking at both pros and cons. Personally, this whole video was like "authoritarianism, while destructive, can sure be affective sometimes" After learning alot about he foundation of modern Singapore, and as much as I love the city when I visited it, the only reason I think it works the way it does is because of the fact it is a highly urban city-state with potentially aggressive neighbors and a thriving port economy. This unique situation is, what I believe, gives it so much stability - that and its friendliness with western powers who regularly send their warships there as support.

[@hamitokia]

I think it can only work when the government/leaders are not corrupt. With government having so much control, it'll be hell if the leader/politicians is corrupt and only care to benefit themselves. Also I believe Lee Kuan Yew has established such a solid culture and education of integrity and anti-corruption mindset to generations of people, so when the people became future politicians and leaders, the culture of having long-term visions and providing benefit for the people becomes priority.

[@erasmus5812]

At Least Singapore ensure everyine have a place to live in and able to afford them. Isn't what people want? Every where from the place the you live, you can find food and grocery within walking distance. In the central of the estate, there is mall and train station. within estate therr are play grounds and gym as well as parks. There are park connectors for cycling and jogging connecting estates.

[@CaptainAlliance]

In an area smaller than 99% of most countries, it's much easier to be a prosperous authoritarian state, without having people riot in the streets. However, when you try to bring a similar system into a larger scale sovereign nation, that's when corruption in the government, and a decay in quality in life occurs.

[@erasmus5812]

whether it is democracy or communism, it is just a method to run a countriy. Both has its pros and cons. There is no best system. Actually there is no pure democratic or Communist countries now where there is a mix of capitalism and socialism into it. If a communist country is run by strong government it will do well and likewise if run by bad government it will do very badly. Democratic is good if parties work together for interests of countries and corporate does not influence the government. Some countries now run like a companies where the CEO only keen to keep his job for a short term interests of the companies by keeping shareholder happy.

[@toastedmarshmallow6398]

Hey, just wanted to correct you on the colour of the MRT lines (6:40) Brown line (map) = Downtown Line (legend) Yellow line = East West Line Green line = North South Line Blue line = North East Line Orange line = Circle Line The legend on the bottom right corner is correct, it's just the colour of the lines which might be confusing

[@alanOHALAN]

That is why Singapore is so much better than Hong Kong. China is following Singapore now after decades of following Hong Kong.

[@FlutterSwag]

That policy that has companies put in savings for its employees is so smart. And its even samrter that the funds cant be taken out until 55 or under specific conditions. Imagine being able to veiw your growing savings and the peace of mind youd get.

[@AndewMole]

actually, many locals appear to be against it, as they feel "my money, my choice" and cannot withdraw when they "really need it". this, and since you end up not being able to withdraw everything in the end (after you die the savings go to your next of kin's account I think) makes them feel like the government is not actually keeping that money and using it for other purposes which maybe they are I am unsure of what actually happens I am just a student

[@FlutterSwag]

@@AndewMole well banks do the same thing but we give our money willingly , nothings perfect but i see many people not have any savings after this pandemic hit no matter if they were 20 or 50 years old

[@FlutterSwag]

@________ well a lot of people dont anyway and complain when they have no money when a pandemic or any other emergency happens. I wish everyone saved 10-20% of their income but most dont budget to allow that

[@dannyzero692]

Singapore: Ah, my people need places to live. I shall use this money carefully to solve future housing problems! Hong Kong: Ah, price just increased by 10000%, no big deal.

[@MatthewStidham]

Talking about this policy of Singapore as authoritarian makes the US authoritarian as well. We must pay 13.4% of our income into Social Security, the two differences are that we can't choose to invest this money unlike people in Singapore who can use their forced retirement in housing, and about half of Americans will pay more than they get back. In terms of the urban planning... go try to build a 6 story apartment building in Ballard, Seattle. The city won't allow it. We have very harsh rules about how people can build, the difference is that instead of our goal being "everyone has a home" our goal is usually a somewhat vague "preserve the character of the neighborhood" which leads to housing being unaffordable for most. We also have affirmative action laws. The difference is that Singapore's retirement system works and their housing policy goal is for everyone to have a house. The other difference is that we don't give an exemption to various taxes for your primary residence. Those are the differences I can see.

[@salmanman2699]

The main difference is that ownership does exist in the US. In Singapore, it does not. 99 year leases are not ownership. Also, eminent domain is much more readily exerted in Singapore, which to me, increases the uncertainty much more. However, many American states should improve their urban planning, and not allow people to interfere so much in it.

[@THEREALZENFORCE]

So year by year, decades by decades the government gets wealthier due to housing prices inflation (paid 20% of your salary and 17% by the employer, a wooping 37% total) and the people don't get wealthier. Every flat owner or house owner in Luxembourg, yearly gets 10 to 14% richer on the worth of the home. Never will you make that 100000 to 180000 exponentially yearly value increase by savings. You got the bad deal in Vienna, Stockholm, Singapore in comparison and their mostly state owned public homes. Singapore the most expensive communist housing ever in Human history. Luxembourg citizen pay 11,8% in social security. And our retirement pensions as our salaries are way above those of Singapore.

[@rizalm120]

"Can we buy a house together?" I love that ❤😂

[@vs2d40]

6:43 minor issue the MRT map colour is wrong

[@faizbashaAirplanes]

He also forgot thomson line!

[@kais_the_duck6583]

Lol yeah it got really confusing seeing North-South be green. Meh at least it’s fixed later on

[@faizbashaAirplanes]

@DF AMO three stations are open

[@TheSense13]

He said in the a comment that he messed up the colors while editing

[@davidliu2243]

Faiz Basha is it open yet?

[@doctorwilly]

i remember living in HK for a few months and looking at a cluster of high rises and the uncountable number of tiny condo units. I got a feeling those were more like prison then home to me.

[@rusydididigamingandvlog2290]

Sorry to hear Poor things i should be greatful living in singapore newer home i keep Complaining about getting small i feel unhappy then i realise Hong kong alot smaller than singapore home