Community Care Apartments See Falling Demand as Government Slows Rollout and Eyes Fee Cuts

Launched in 2021, Community Care Apartments are a housing model designed for seniors aged 65 and above. They are smaller HDB units that come with communal assisted living facilities and care services built in, combining independent living with on-site support. The concept was developed in response to Singapore’s ageing population, offering seniors a middle ground between living fully independently and moving into a nursing home.

The first CCA project, Harmony Village @ Bukit Batok, has basic service package fees ranging from S$159 to S$169 per month. The project comprises units across 15 storeys, with prices ranging from S$40,000 to S$65,000. HDB has since launched CCAs in several estates including Queenstown, Geylang, and Sengkang, with about 30 projects originally planned across the island by 2030.

Minister Ong Ye Kung noted that while CCAs were very popular when first introduced, demand has since fallen as more assisted living options have entered the market and community care services have improved. The Sengkang CCA project, for instance, recorded an application rate of just 0.7, meaning it received fewer applications than available units.

An NUS real estate professor observed that CCA demand tends to be driven by couples or individuals living alone, and that many seniors now have access to various health and active ageing programmes that reduce the need for integrated care housing. The government is now reconsidering the original plan to roll out 30 CCA projects, acknowledging that not every block necessarily needs to provide assisted living services in the same format.

Minister Ong pointed out that some assisted living services used by seniors under care plans overlap with services provided by CCAs, and the authorities are reviewing subsidy policies to ensure the funding mechanism stays consistent across different residential care models. This review is expected to result in lower monthly basic service package fees for qualifying CCA residents.

Resident Tseng Hui Yu, a 73-year-old retiree who moved into the Bukit Batok CCA in March last year, currently pays about S$170 per month for the basic service package. With no retirement income, she said a reduction to about S$120 per month would be more manageable for the long term. HDB and the Ministry of Health are expected to announce more details on the fee adjustments in due course.