In response to public feedback and suggestions, the Ministry of National Development (MND) has enhanced the Silver Housing Bonus (SHB) and Enhanced Lease Buyback Scheme (LBS) for the elderly.
“We need to strike a balance between improving retirement adequacy by requiring a meaningful top-up to the CPF, and keeping the schemes attractive by allowing adequate cash proceeds,” said National Development Minister Khaw Boon Wan.
Hence, several suggestions from the public were taken into account to come up with the enhancements, making the schemes more appealing to Singaporeans, Mr Khaw noted.
Under the Silver Housing Bonus (SHB), the government has lowered the top-up requirement to S$60,000 per household (subject to an S$100,000 cap on cash proceeds if the applicant did not achieve the prevailing Minimum Sum). Aside from that, the S$20,000 bonus will now be given fully in cash.
The SHB is an assistance package provided to lower-income elderly households who wish to right-size and enhance their retirement income.
Meanwhile, the Lease Buyback Scheme (LBS) enables lower-income elderly living in three-room or smaller HDB flats to sell the tail-end lease of their flat to the government.
To further enhance their retirement income, the following enhancements have been made to the LBS: lower top-up requirement, relaxed eligibility criteria for the elderly to qualify, and increased LBS bonus from S$10,000 to S$20,000 for all households.
The improved schemes will be available from 1 February 2013.
Romesh Navaratnarajah, Senior Editor of PropertyGuru, wrote this story. To contact him about this or other stories email romesh@propertyguru.com.sg
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