Oral Answer to PQ on Ensuring Sufficient and Resilient Housing for MWs

NOTICE PAPER NO. 3579 OF 2025 FOR THE SITTING ON OR AFTER 8 APR 2025
QUESTION NO. 7392 FOR ORAL ANSWER

MP: Mr Yip Hon Weng

To ask the Minister for Manpower in light of the high occupancy rates and recent closures of purpose-built dormitories, what is the Ministry's long-term strategy to ensure sufficient and resilient housing for foreign workers

Answer:

1. The Government has been working closely with the dormitory industry to increase dormitory bed supply. This includes extending the leases of expiring dormitories where feasible, as well as enabling existing purpose-built dormitories (PBDs) with excess space to increase their occupancy load whilst meeting prevailing dormitory housing standards. We have also been streamlining and facilitating applications for new Factory-Converted Dormitories and temporary workers’ quarters such as Temporary Occupation Licence Quarters to provide more sources of bed supply. Over the next few years, six new PBDs with around 45,000 beds will also be added to the market, including MOM’s 2,400-bed PBD in Jalan Tukang, set to be operational in early 2026.

2. While the Government has put in place measures to expand dormitory bed supply, this will not be sustainable if demand for work permit holders grows unabatedly. We urge employers to adopt productivity measures to reduce their reliance on migrant workers.