Two Tiong Bahru HDB blocks to proceed with HIP upgrading after successful re-poll

SINGAPORE – Two HDB blocks in Tiong Bahru that narrowly missed the voting threshold for the Home Improvement Programme (HIP) in 2025 will undergo upgrading after a successful re-poll.

Tanjong Pagar GRC MP Foo Ce­xiang said in a Facebook post on Oct 28 that a re-poll was conducted on Oct 25 and that both blocks – Block 34 Kim Cheng Street and Block 35 Lim Liak Street – had met the 75% threshold.

Block 34 garnered 75% of votes in favour of the HIP, while Block 35 garnered 87%.

In poll results published in November 2025, Block 34 fell short of the threshold by two votes (67%) while Block 35 was short by one vote (73%). Block 34 comprises 24 units and Block 35 has 15 units.

The two blocks were among 29 in the neighbourhood where residents voted on whether to proceed with HIP. Voting was successful in the other 27 blocks.

All the blocks are four-storey walk-up flats built in 1949 by the Singapore Improvement Trust, HDB’s predecessor.

HIP was launched in 2007 to spruce up older housing estates and address common maintenance problems, such as spalling concrete.

It is carried out only if at least 75% of a block’s eligible Singaporean households vote in favour. Permanent-resident households are not eligible to vote.

Foo said that after the unsuccessful poll, HDB and the Seng Poh Residents’ Network continued to reach out to uncontactable residents of the two blocks, as well as the owners of tenanted units who had not responded to the voting.

HIP proceeded in the other 27 blocks so “they can serve as an example and provide greater assurance to those still on the fence”.

“We had residents whose units had completed HIP volunteer to open their homes to residents in the two blocks – to show them the good work and give them greater assurance. We were able to get in touch with a couple of residents whom we had not been able to (reach) previously,” he added.

In July 2026, a straw poll showed the two blocks could meet the 75% threshold, and HDB agreed to a re-poll, said Foo.

HIP works for Blocks 34 and 35 will begin in November, and are expected to be completed by the end of January 2027.

National Development Minister Chee Hong Tat said in January that the authorities were studying whether to group HDB blocks with fewer units together for HIP voting, so that enough households would participate in the voting process.

Six HDB blocks had failed to garner the 75% of votes needed to undergo HIP over the last 10 years, he said in a written parliamentary reply.

These were one block in Serangoon Avenue 2 in 2017 and three blocks in Lengkong Tiga in 2023, as well as the two Tiong Bahru blocks.

For the Serangoon and Lengkong Tiga blocks, HDB received appeals from flat owners and the MP to conduct a re-poll.

The re-polls were conducted about one year from the first polls, and all four blocks received enough votes to proceed with HIP.

Isabelle Liew is a journalist at The Straits Times. She covers housing issues in Singapore, with a focus on public housing.