Mandating Increase in Accommodation Allowances for Foreign Healthcare Workers Given Recent Rental Rate Increase

NOTICE PAPER NO. 1994
NOTICE OF QUESTION FOR ORAL ANSWER
FOR THE SITTING OF PARLIAMENT ON OR AFTER 4 JULY 2023

Name and Constituency of Member of Parliament
Mr Dennis Tan Lip Fong
MP for Hougang SMC

Question No. 4778

To ask the Minister for Health in light of the increase in rent in the property market, whether the Ministry will consider mandating or recommending the increase of accommodation allowances for foreign healthcare workers to incentivise and retain talent in the sector.

Answer

1          Public healthcare clusters and community care organisations provide their foreign healthcare workers with a housing allowance to help defray their accommodation expenses. 

2         The Ministry of Health (MOH) does not mandate the amount of housing allowance paid by public healthcare clusters and community care organisations. However, we continue to monitor this as part of the salary package for foreign healthcare workers. In the meantime, MOH Holdings has been studying the feasibility of facilitating hostel-type accommodation to support new foreign healthcare workers when they first arrive in Singapore, before transiting to housing options available in the market after they have had some time to settle in.