Dear friends,
Unreasonably high rent increases for store spaces have been a concern for a number of years.
Such high rents make it difficult for small independent businesses to start, experiment and thrive.
Imagine paying $28,000 a month for a 500 square foot store space.
And then having your rent jacked up a further 50 percent.
Meanwhile, us Common Singaporeans feel poorer by the day as price hikes outpace our salary increases.
Over the past one year alone, rents for store spaces have doubled.
This is the highest ever year-on-year increase on record.
Already, many small-business owners and hawkers have publicly cited rental hikes as their reason for closure.
There are limited store spaces in small Singapore – what is known as a supply-side squeeze.
This means that business owners are at the mercy of greedy landlords.
After unreasonably-high rental costs, they have little resources to promote their wares, or develop more and better products.
In short, it is an intense uphill struggle to compete with Big Corp, and we in the community suffer from a lack of diverse and interesting offerings.
If the problem of high rents is left unaddressed, only Big Corp chain stores will be left in the years to come, whether in town or our heartland neighbourhoods.
Our neighbourhoods will lose their vibrancy and character.
And we will be paying much more for mundane, soulless products to further enrich Big Corp.
This situation must never be allowed to happen.
That’s why the SDA has proposed the Neighbourhood Rents Scheme in our 2025 Manifesto.
This scheme entails rental regulations to keep rents sustainable so small businesses have the opportunity to survive and thrive.
At the same time, it offers landlords an incentive to keep rent hikes sustainable in the form of property tax rebates.
Rental regulations were part of government policy during the Lee Kuan Yew era.
The aim was to protect ordinary tenants from opportunistic landlords, to prevent unreasonable rent hikes, and to ensure that small traders and families had stability.
Our founding leaders recognised that unchecked rent increases could hollow out communities and crush small enterprise.
Although the Rent Control Act was gradually phased out and repealed in 2001, the principles it embodied remain highly relevant today.
The SDA’s Neighbourhood Rents Scheme improves on the old rental regulation policy and adapts it fit the context of modern-day Singapore.
We urge government leaders to have the iron in them and strongly consider this proposal.
So that our young aspiring entrepreneurs can chase their rainbow, and try again undaunted even if they fail.
So that our hardworking middle-aged workers who want to attempt a different means of livelihood have the opportunity to prosper.
And for all Common Singaporeans, so that Singapore will never become simply an expensive and cookie-cutter nation.
Desmond Lim
Chairman
Singapore Democratic Alliance
