HUDC – most who grew up after the 80s will have no idea what these 4 letters mean in relation to the local housing market. In their heyday, the HUDC or Housing and Urban Devleopment Company scheme consisted of selected flats were built larger, better and fancier than their other public housing counterparts. They were a little like the executive condominiums (ECs) of Design, Build and Sell (DBSS) flats of their day, meant to bridge the gap between the public and private property markets.
Most of the HUDC projects have been privatised over the years, and the era officially drew to a close as the last of the 18 HUDC estate reached privatisation last month. Braddell View, the largest of all the HUDC estates consisted of 918 flats and 2 shops and will join the other 7,731 units which have been privatised since its implementation almost 40 years ago. The scheme ended in 1987 when demand for bigger public housing options diminished due to the availability of private housing which fulfilled the wants and needs of the ‘sandwiched’ classes.
Ironically, many now think that the government could do very well to re-establish a scheme in the same vein as the HUDCs to provide for families hoping to upgrade within the public housing sector, especially as the newer flats are often lacking in terms of space. The privatisation of Braddell View has taken almost 18 years due to the staggered timing of leases of land on which the property stands. What is left for these HUDC estates after privatisation? The rather lucrative possibility of a collective sale, quite naturally.
