Speech by Minister Desmond Lee on the Home Improvement Programme at the launch of Pioneer’s Sustainability Corner
Feb 16, 2025
A very good afternoon to Grassroots Adviser, Mr Patrick Tay, as well as residents and friends of Pioneer. Thank you for inviting me here today. I am happy to join all of you for the festive celebrations together. I start off by wishing one and all a very happy Chinese New Year and a very fresh start to a good year.
Now many of you have been giving feedback to Mr Patrick Tay, to my colleagues, to myself, about our homes. As our homes and estates age over time, they naturally encounter higher wear and tear. The Government is committed to refreshing, rejuvenating, and improving our older estates and homes, to ensure that Singaporeans continue to live a high-quality environment. We achieve this through a series of upgrading programmes.
For our HDB estates, this would include the HDB’s Neighbourhood Renewal Programme, or NRP. This provides residents with improved precinct amenities, and HDB’s Lift Upgrading Programme, or LUP, which brings direct lift access to those of us living in older HDB blocks.
For our private estates, we have the Estate Upgrading Programme, EUP. It provides residents with improved connectivity, senior-friendly enhancements and new recreational activities.
Home Improvement Programme (HIP)
But today, I will focus on HDB’s Home Improvement Programme, or HIP, and this is one of our key initiatives to refresh and rejuvenate our HDB homes.
For those of you who are not familiar with HIP, essentially there are two components:
The first component is the essential improvements. These are fully funded by the Government. This will cover repairs to spalling concrete, waste pipe replacements as well as replacement of old pipe sockets with upgraded and safer retractable clothes drying racks.
The second component is the optional improvements component. Here, residents can choose from a suite of options to spruce up their flats, such as toilet upgrading, replacing the flat’s entrance door and gate, and re-installing a new refuse chute hopper. These optional components and improvements are heavily subsidised by the Government.
So this year, I am glad to announce that HIP will be extended to another 371 HDB blocks, benefitting more than 29,000 households all across Singapore. The Government has dedicated over $407 million to subsidise the various HIP improvement works for Singaporeans.
Including the latest batch, some 494,000 flats or some 9 in 10 eligible flats have been selected for HIP since the programme was started back in 2007.
Here in Pioneer, more than 1,200 households across 10 blocks have been selected in this batch of HIP. These blocks are located opposite Jurong Point, at Blocks 687 to 696 Jurong West Central 1.
In addition to the HIP, our households can also choose to add fittings under the Enhancement for Active Seniors, or EASE, programme. It has been around for time back, but last April, we refreshed it and upgraded it, because of useful feedback from residents, frontliners, healthcare professionals, occupational therapists and my HDB colleagues. The purpose of the EASE programme is to make our homes in our HDB estates safer and more accessible for our seniors, thereby improving the support of those who want to age in place.
As I said, last year, HDB launched EASE 2.0 and we expanded the list of senior-friendly fittings available. The response has been very encouraging for the take-up rate of EASE 2.0, with about 29,000 households having applied for EASE 2.0.
In fact when the new batch of HIP rolls out, including here in Pioneer, residents can apply for EASE 2.0 together with HIP. So, I encourage all of you to sign up for these programmes, especially if you have seniors in your households, please make full use of EASE 2.0. We have also arranged a simple exhibition to present more details on both HIP and EASE. Explore the exhibition, and reach out to the HDB officers if you have any questions.
Allow me to now share in Mandarin.
大家早上好! 很高兴能够出席今天的活动。在此，我祝大家新春快乐。
随着屋龄的增长，我们的住宅难免会出现日常的磨损和老化。政府多年来也不断地翻新旧组屋和住宅区， 为它们注入新活力，也让居民能有更舒适的居住环境。
例如邻里更新计划 (简称NRP）来提升较老旧组屋区的设施和环境。在这个计划下推出的项目包括运动设施，游乐场和有盖走道。
政府也通过私人住宅区翻新计划 (简称EUP ) 来翻新私人住宅区。通过改善工程，我们的邻里社区将变得更亲乐龄，更安全和便捷。
今天，我来跟大家分享一下 “家居改进计划” (简称HIP)的发展。家居改进计划主要分为两个部分，必要项目和自选项目：
必要项目包括修复结构性裂缝和洋灰剥落、更换铸铁排污水管、安装晾衣架，以及提高电力负荷量。
自选项目则包括更换住家大门、铁门、垃圾槽盖和厕所翻新等等。
今天，我很高兴宣布，政府将拨款超过4.07亿元展开新一轮的家居改进计划。在这轮翻新中，超过2万9千户家庭分布在371座组屋获选加入。先驱单选区第一分区也是获选加入家居改进计划的地区之一。包括新一轮的家居改进计划，至今已有49万4千个获选加入计划的单位。
配合家居改进计划，居民也可以选择在乐龄易计划（简称EASE）下，在家里安装亲乐龄设施，提升年长者的生活舒适度与安全。
去年四月推出升级版的乐龄易计划（简称EASE 2.0）也获得国人热烈反响。至今，已经有逾2万9千户家庭申请。
我要鼓励大家支持家居改进计划和乐龄易计划，改善我们的居住环境。稍后，我也邀请大家参观后面的展览。让大家可以从中了解这些翻新计划的细节，也可以向我们建屋的同事咨询任何问题。再次祝大家新年快乐，万事如意， 财源广进， 蛇年行大运。谢谢！