SINGAPORE – About 150,000 adult Singaporeans living in one-room and two-room Housing Board flats will receive $150 worth of grocery vouchers by the end of October.
They will also receive another $150 in grocery vouchers in December this year, and another set worth $100 in October 2021, said the Ministry of Finance (MOF) on Saturday (Oct 10).
The first round of distribution of vouchers started on Oct 1, and they will be mailed to the NRIC-registered addresses of all recipients.
The grocery voucher scheme is part of the Government’s Care and Support Package first announced in February under the Unity Budget to cover household expenses, with lower-income households getting extra assistance. The scheme costs about $46 million.
Only those aged 21 and above, who do not own more than one property, will receive the vouchers which can be used in FairPrice, Giant, Prime and Sheng Siong supermarket outlets for now.
The $300 worth of grocery vouchers issued in 2020 will expire on Dec 31 next year.
Under the Care and Support Package, all eligible HDB households will also enjoy the additional GST Voucher - U-Save, and rebates for service and conservancy charges for the rest of this year as well as early next year.
One-room and two-room flats will receive $100 GST vouchers this month and in January 2021, respectively. Larger households with five or more members will receive an additional $100 rebate on both months.
Those flats will also be granted rebates in service and conservancy charges for the whole of this month, and half of January next year.
Second Minister for Finance and National Development Indranee Rajah, who visited grocery voucher recipients at Blk 124 Kim Tian Place on Saturday, said they were well-received by the residents as it would help them cope with household expenses and daily necessities during the pandemic period.
“Since it is nearing the end of the year, and also the holiday period, we wanted to make sure that the lower income households have something additional,” said Ms Indranee, who is also the MP for the Tanjong Pagar-Tiong Bahru Ward.
The block at Kim Tian Place comprises 288 one-room flats, and is one of seven rental blocks in the Tiong Bahru precinct. The majority of the residents are elderly, and most of the working adults are daily-rated employees, said Mr Kenneth Seet, Tiong Bahru Community Centre’s chairman.
“During these challenging times, job security is (the residents’) top concern, followed by social stability. The focus is to retrain them to make sure that those who have lost their jobs can find alternative jobs and provide for their families,” he said.
Tiong Bahru Community Centre will host a career fair on Nov 17, in collaboration with the National Trades Union Congress’ Employment and Employability Institute and Workforce Singapore, said Mr Seet.
Since last year, Blk 124 resident Velammal Chinan Rama-Samy, 63, has seen her family’s income fluctuate. She lives with her 43-year-old daughter and 12-year-old grandson in a one-room flat. Her daughter is the sole breadwinner.
For three months last year, Mdm Velammal’s daughter was unemployed.
“There was no money, and most of the time we couldn’t buy anything that we needed,” said Lakshan Kumar, Mdm Velammal’s grandson. His grandmother had to borrow money from friends to tide over the period, he added.
Mdm Velammal's daughter later secured a full-time job as a security guard but her contract turned into a part-time one after the pandemic hit.
For the family, the grocery vouchers came at a good time as Deepavali is next month, and household expenses will be higher.
“We can buy what we need, like sweets, decorations and ingredients for cooking,” said Mdm Velammal.
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