Public Housing Whitewash

I don't envy the HDB PR guy who has to write such rubbish in the papers once in a while. Oh, I'm sure he's paid very well. Hope he can sleep at night, though.

Yesterday, in Today, this guy again explained why HDB is 'losing' money in 'subsidizing' the sale of flats. I'm afraid Singaporeans aren't going to fall for that line much longer (except those who buy Ipods and Osim).

We know that land for public housing is acquired by the URA, for peanuts (meaning very little, in this case). They then sell it to HDB at market value. Therefore, when HDB totes up the cost of the flats, it's very high. They can then claim to be subsidizing public housing. However, if you factor in the real cost of the land, the truth is obvious.

Of course, I'm not advocating the HDB sell flats at true cost. The profits would then accrue to the lucky buyers when they sell. I'm just asking that they (HDB) be honest about things. We're used to being milked left, right and centre. What hurts is the lying.