60 years of Our Singapore Housing

In 1961 before the disastrous fire at Bukit Ho Swee, this area used to be one of the worst attap slums in Singapore with unsanitary and unhygienic conditions. By the time Singapore gained independence in 1965, it has transformed into a modern housing estate with a maternity and child health clinic, markets, playgrounds and schools in the area together with 11,000 units being built with approximately 70,000 people living in these flats. 16-storey flats at Havelock Road Beo Crescent flats, 1965 Bukit Ho Swee Secondary School, 1965 A children's playground

The design of flats built during the first Five-Year Plan(1960-65) were simple and functional in order to build as many homes for a growing population that resulted from a baby boom with more than 50,000 babies born each year. These flats were fitted with basic amenities like piped water and electricity. Most of the flats were built in slab blocks with the units accessible by a common corridor with more than 10 units on each level of the block.

After the massive fire which made 16,000 people homeless in May 1961, our late Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew gave the fire victims assurance that within 9 months, they will have their new flats to live in. In September 1961, he declared the opening of the new Bukit Ho Swee Estate. The development of Bukit Ho Swee fire site, 1961 Our then Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew declaring the opening of a new estate Part of the crowd during the opening ceremony Majority of the newly completed flats consist of 1-room emergency flats and 2-room flats at Bukit Ho Swee and Tiong Bahru New flats under construction in Kampong Tiong Bahru  An aerial view of Tiong Bahru HDB flats New flats at Jalan Membina Open spaces between these buildings 9-storey flats at Tiong Bahru The government medical clinic in Tiong Bahru which opened in 1961

The Bukit Ho Swee Fire, which occurred in the afternoon of 25th May 1961, was the biggest fire outbreak in Singapore's history. However, the cause of the fire was never established. A total of 4 people died in the massive fire, 2,800 homes were destroyed and more than 16,000 people were homeless overnight. Shortly after the disaster, the government declared a national state of emergency. The temporary relief centres for the fire victims were located in schools of the area. However, as the conditions there were unsanitary, the government gave priority plans to rehouse victims into newly built flats where some of them were resettled in Tiong Bahru and Queenstown. For the next 9 months, the HDB built the first 5 blocks of 768 flats which is considered a pivotal point in the development of public housing of Singapore. A 1988 SBC local documentary "Diary of the Nation" with the survivors sharing their experiences. To look at the de...