Our Homes: 50 Years of Housing a Nation
Warren Fernandez
Singapore: Straits Times Press & Housing Development Board, 2010
ISBN: 9789814266741

From a distance, the blocks of Housing Board flats that dot the island all round Singapore appear to have sprung up from the ground, a seemingly inevitable product of the city-state's rapid economic development over the past decades.

But the story of how these flats and new towns rose gradually over the past five decades is anything but straightforward.

Indeed, faced with a chronic housing shortage and burgeoning slums around the city, many harboured doubts that the new Housing and Development Board was up to the task of tackling the fledgeling state's problems when it was launched on 1 February 1960.

A massive fire soon afterwards in Bukit Ho Swee, which left scores homeless, added to HDB's challenge to build simple, affordable homes - and quickly.

Policies designed to help families pay for their flats and become home owners made all the difference, as did rules which ensured that the estates were ethnically and socially integrated. Right from the start, HDB strived to foster communities, conscious of the need to give the people homes, not just houses.

Our Homes: 50 Years of Housing a Nation traces this story. It is based on first-hand interviews with many of the key players over the years, from policy makers to political leaders, including new interviews with three past and present prime ministers of Singapore as well as HDB residents themselves. It highlights the unique aspects of HDB living, such as void decks, hawker centres, courtyards in the sky and bamboo-pole holders to hang out the washing to dry.

The book's conclusion also looks ahead to ponder the future of the HDB, posing the question: What next for public housing?

Both those who have lived in HDB estates, or marvelled from a distance at how these array of blocks came to be, will find this book a revealing account of just what it took for a young nation with a determined people to build a common home.