The Development of Housing Policy in Singapore and the Sources of Path Dependence

This paper aims to examine the development of housing policy in Singapore from British colonial rule to the era of Lee Kuan Yew (1959–1990) and analyse what factors structured path dependence in the Singaporean context. Lee Kuan Yew’s government had been consistently committed to building and running the public housing sector. The strong initiative in public housing was aimed at serving development strategies and nation-building processes, rather than creating entitlement to social rights. In addition, people who purchased or would purchase public housing recognized the benefits from housing policies as available assets and readily mobilized them over time. Finally, the paper concludes that two factors – the government’s pursuit of public housing and the asset-specific elements of housing schemes – are the principal sources of path dependence in Singaporean housing policy.