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When Eby unveiled B.C. Builds in February, Khoo said many Singaporean philosophies were instantly recognizable in the provincial program, right down to the exact percentage points in one instance. Author of the article: The Canadian Press Chuck Chiang Published Aug 06, 2024  •  Last updated 3 days ago  •  7 minute read A Harbour Air seaplane takes off past office and condo towers as a boat refuels at a floating Chevron station on the water, in Vancouver, on July 25 . Photo by DARRYL DYCK /THE CANADIAN PRESS Urban planner Louisa-May Khoo says she got a sense of history repeating when Premier David Eby announced the B.C. Builds housing program earlier this year. Khoo, a University of British Columbia public scholar, was a veteran of Singapore’s planning and development sector starting in 1996 before arriving in Vancouver in 2018. When Eby unveiled B.C. Builds in February, Khoo said many Singaporean philosophies were instantly recognizable in the provincial program, right down to the exact percentage points in one instance. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Vancouver Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Vancouver Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. Sign In or Create an Account or Article content “B.C. Builds has pegged their rental rates at 30 per cent of the household income, for instance, and that’s something the (Singapore Housing and Development Board) has always stuck by,” Khoo said. It “is also pushing for things like a lot more upstream planning, which Singapore has always done for a long time,” she said. “Some of the regulations and proposals that I’ve seen in terms of the housing plan is very much inspired (by Singapore).” Singapore’s housing model, where the government plays a dominating role in land ownership, property development, financing and other related aspects of society, has been held up numerous times as a path to affordability here in Canada. But the idea isn’t without its critics, especially when much of the policy may not be applicable in the Canadian social environment. The B.C. Builds program aims to use “government, community and non-profit owned” land and $2 billion in low-cost financing to deliver middle-income homes. Eby has said that more Singapore inspirations are coming for B.C.’s program. “We’re starting with rental housing,” Eby said in a February. “We’re going to move into housing for purchases as well. This is a model that has been used in Singapore, in Vienna. … We know that it works, and we are taking that model and we’re expanding it dramatically. Article content “This is how we change the direction of housing.” To make the change by adopting the full Singaporean model, however, will be difficult, said Sock Yong Phang, a Singapore Management University economics professor. The Singapore-based researcher, who co-wrote a 2016 Asian Development Bank Institute report on the country’s housing policies, said much of his country’s unique take on housing came out of necessity. Full adaptation in a different environment, therefore, will prove challenging, she said. Singapore faces an acute problem of land scarcity, Phang said. “(So) it is a holistic framework of land-use planning and allocation, housing supply delivery, housing finance and regulation of housing demand to ensure affordable home ownership. “The framework in its entirety will be difficult to replicate in another setting.” Singapore, often described as a city-state, houses most of its 5.9 million residents on one main island totalling 730 square kilometres. That area is smaller than every top-15 most-populated census metropolitan areas in Canada, with the closest being Oshawa, Ont., at 903 square kilometres. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Article content Article content The lack of land was compounded by a lack in adequate housing when Singapore gained self-governance from Britain in 1959. Phang wrote in the report that less than nine per cent of the population was living in public housing at the time “with the majority living in overcrowded prewar, rent-controlled apartments, lacking access to water and modern sanitation,” while “others faced housing conditions comparable to today’s slums.” It led to the creation of the Housing and Development Board to build and sell public housing, as well as laws that gave government broad powers to acquire land for redistribution for “any public purpose.” As a result, Phang said about 90 per