SINGAPORE: An initiative where eligible families and young couples can use vouchers to offset rent for an Housing Development Board (HDB) flat or bedroom on the open market will be extended to the end of this year, HDB said on Monday (Jun 16).

The initiative under the Parenthood Provisional Housing Scheme (PPHS) - a temporary housing scheme where families can rent a flat or bedroom while waiting for their Build-to-Order (BTO) units to be completed - had initially been slated to end in June.

Those who qualify for this receive S$300 (US$234) per month on a reimbursement basis in order to defray their rental costs.

HDB said it will extend the PPHS voucher by six months until Dec 31 “to support young couples and families who are renting from the open market while awaiting the completion of their new flats”.

“This extension will sustain interim support for eligible families until HDB fully ramps up the supply of PPHS flats to 4,000 units by the end of this year,” it added.

To qualify for the voucher, families must meet PPHS eligibility requirements, including having booked an uncompleted flat from HDB’s sales exercises and having a household income of S$7,000 and below.

About 200 households are expected to benefit from this extension of the PPHS voucher, HDB said.

The authority added that as PPHS supply has ramped up in recent years - from 800 units in 2021 to about 4,000 units by end-2025 - the application rate for PPHS flats has come down significantly - from over 20 in 2021 to around three at present.

Since June 2023, all eligible applicants who are married with children aged 18 and below, including expectant parents, have been invited to select a PPHS flat.

HDB also said on Monday that it is on track to launch over 130,000 BTO flats from 2021 to 2027, including flats with shorter wait times.

“Therefore, BTO application rates for first-timer families have fallen from 3.7 times in 2019 to 1.5 times in the February 2025 sales exercise,” it added.

HDB noted that median waiting times have also been reduced to less than four years, comparable to pre-COVID levels.

“All BTO projects undergoing construction are on track to be delivered on time,” it said.