We’ve all heard of house horror stories. No, not haunted house horror stories. House horror stories; tales of houses that are in really bad condition. I’ve personally heard of a few, though never about one in Singapore. After all, the HDB is supposed to prevent this.
I suppose there’s a first time for everything!
Enter Felicia Ong.
A single mum with a 16-month old baby, she recently moved in to a HDB rental flat. One that looks like its ripped straight from the 1970s. Cracked floors, unpowered electrical outlets, broken toilet door and more! I’ve honestly seen crack houses in documentaries that are in better condition that what’s shown.
Oh don’t worry…words aren’t effective enough to describe the horror.
These pictures will though…
Oh yeah, they don’t paint a pretty picture, do they?
With the age of social media being what it is, it wasn’t long before Felicia’s complaints reached somebody who could do something about it; Zaqy Mohamad, Marsiling’s MP. It’s actually a pretty good testament to how on the ball he is.
Not bad Mr Zaqy.
Quick response, empathetic reply and he was the one who brought the case up to the HDB. Plus, he promises to follow up and check on Felicia. Not bad at all! A pretty good example of how the government should take care of its people.
Fearing the wave of bad press that this will bring down upon them, the HDB has quickly come out to try and repair the situation…after being alerted by Zaqy Mohamed though.
Evidently being contacted by Felicia herself didn’t warrant a quick response.
Only after being contacted by an MP did they respond.
Hmmm…HDB claims that they usually repair and spruce up rental flats before handing over the keys to new renters. Apparently Felicia got hers before they could’ve done anything.
Anybody find that explanation hinky?
We’re supposed to believe nobody at HDB checked the house prior to certifying that it was OK? That the keys were issued before they could do anything? What, somebody at HDB just passed Felicia her keys right as the previous owner dropped them off?
Either HDB’s administrative side needs to do their work properly or the statement is just something to cover their asses because the issue got blown out on social media.
The incompetence of HDB aside, at least this story has a happy ending. Felicia has a new rental flat (which hopefully is better than this one) and is getting help from Marsiling’s MP, which should hopefully assist with her job situation (she’s currently unemployed) and medical issues.