What Is HDB's Home Improvement Programme (HIP)? A Resident's Guide

HIP touches almost every older HDB flat in Singapore at some point. Here's what it actually covers, and what to expect.

HDB's Home Improvement Programme is a national upgrading exercise for flats built before 1997, rolled out block by block across the island. Since 2007, the government has spent roughly $5 billion on HIP, with around 512,000 flats, about nine in ten eligible flats, selected for upgrading, and roughly 409,000 already completed.

HIP has three components. Essential Improvements are fully subsidised and compulsory, covering work considered necessary for public health, safety, and technical reasons: repairing spalling concrete and structural cracks, replacing waste and soil discharge stacks, and upgrading electrical load where needed, along with replacing pipe sockets to accommodate new clothes drying racks.

Optional Improvements sit on top of the Essential component and require a co-payment of roughly 5% to 12.5%, covering additional upgrades homeowners choose to add during the same exercise, on top of the compulsory Essential works.

EASE, the Enhancement for Active Seniors component, adds elderly-friendly fittings like grab bars and slip-resistant flooring, subsidised up to 95%, and can be selected alongside Essential and Optional works or applied for separately.

During the works themselves, HDB and its contractors put dust and noise screens up before hacking begins, and hacking equipment comes fitted with dust extraction attachments and a smaller breaker specifically chosen to reduce both dust and noise compared to standard equipment. Contractors also provide plastic sheeting to protect belongings in addition to whatever residents arrange themselves, along with interim cleaning during the works period.

Temporary facilities are part of the programme too. HDB sets up shared toilets at the void deck for use during working hours, with a portable toilet unit, including a heated shower, installed inside the flat for use after hours. Air-conditioned rest and study areas at the void deck give displaced residents somewhere comfortable to spend the day while work is underway in their unit.

These measures reduce the disruption, but they don't eliminate it. The rest of this guide series covers what residents who've actually been through HIP report, and how to prepare your own unit before the contractors arrive.