Six decades ago, when Singapore was emerging as an independent nation, it was one of the poorest cities in Southeast Asia. Three out of four residents lived in overcrowded and filthy slums. The ramshackle houses had tin walls and were known as squatters.
60年前刚刚成为一个独立国家时，新加坡是东南亚最贫穷的城市之一。当时四分之三的居民居住在过度拥挤和肮脏的贫民窟中。那些破烂的铁皮房子被称为“占屋”。
Today, Singapore is a wealthy, modern city where roughly half of its 6 million people live in well-constructed high-rise apartments that were built by the government. These subsidized apartments are typically bright and airy, and defy most perceptions of public housing projects. Most are effectively owned by their occupants, a testament to their affordability.
如今，新加坡是一座富裕的现代化城市，600万人口中约有一半居住在政府建造的优质高层公寓中。与大多数人对公共住房项目的印象完全不同，这些受到补贴的公寓通常光线明亮、通风良好。这些公寓大多数实际上都是由居住者拥有，表明了这些房屋价格的可承受程度。
But over the past 15 years, prices in the secondary market have soared 80 percent. As of early May, 54 of these apartments have sold for more than 1.35 million Singaporean dollars, or $1 million. They are sought after because they are spacious, in good locations, and are still cheaper than private condominiums of a similar size.
但过去15年来，二级市场的价格飙升了80%。截至5月初，其中54套公寓的售价超过135万新加坡元（约合100万美元）。这些公寓之所以受到追捧，是因为面积大、位置优越，而且仍然比类似面积的私人公寓便宜。
While these million-dollar apartments represent a tiny fraction of all transactions, they have nonetheless captured the imaginations of many Singaporeans and amplified worries about the affordability of housing in one of the world’s most expensive cities. Some residents are also anxious that the values of their apartments will drop because the units are sold on a 99-year lease and eventually have to be returned to the government.
尽管这些价值上百万美元的公寓只占所有交易的一小部分，但它们仍令许多新加坡人开始浮想联翩，并加剧了人们对世界上最昂贵的城市之一的住房负担能力的担忧。一些居民还担心他们的公寓价值会下降，因为这些单位是按99年契约出售的，最终必须归还给政府。
Here’s what you need to know about Singapore’s public housing system.
关于新加坡公共住房系统，以下是你需要了的信息。
They encourage conversations between neighbors.
鼓励邻居之间的对话。
Singapore’s Housing and Development Board over time has put up hundreds of thousands of apartments in housing projects. The developments are organized as “new towns,” self-contained neighborhoods with restaurants, shops, schools and religious institutions. A town center typically has a clinic, a bus terminal, a subway station or a mall.
随着时间的推移，新加坡建屋发展局的住房项目已经建造了数十万套公寓。这些开发项目被规划成“新市镇”，即拥有餐馆、商店、学校和宗教机构的独立社区。市镇中心通常设有诊所、公交车站、地铁站或购物中心。
Singapore builds and sells a variety of these apartments — known as H.D.B. flats — to suit different household needs and budgets. The heights of the buildings vary, but, typically, the size of the apartments ranges from 32 square meters, or about 340 square feet to 130 square meters for a three-bedroom apartment with two bathrooms. There is also a four-bedroom, three-bathroom apartment for multigenerational families that measures 115 square meters.
为了满足不同家庭的需求和预算，新加坡建造并销售各种被称为建屋发展局组屋的公寓。这些建筑物的高度各不相同，但通常公寓的面积从32平方米到130平方米不等，大的户型有三室两卫。还有适合家族几代人同住的四室三卫户型，面积为115平方米。
Many owners are very proud of their homes, the insides of which are regularly featured in interior design magazines in Singapore.
许多业主对自己的房屋感到非常自豪，其内部装饰经常出现在新加坡的室内设计杂志上。
The apartments run along a wide corridor that is split into six to eight units, to encourage conversation among neighbors. On the ground floor of each block is a “void deck,” an open space where children can play tag and residents can interact with their neighbors.
这些公寓分别在宽阔的走廊两侧，大约有六到八个单位，旨在鼓励邻居之间的交谈。每个街区的底层都有一个“空层”，这是一个开放空间，孩子们可以在这里玩捉迷藏，居民可以与邻居互动。
The grounds are clean and well maintained, and older estates are regularly given facelifts. “This is why, unlike public housing projects elsewhere in the world, our H.D.B. estates never turn into slums or ghettos,” Lee Hsien Loong, who stepped down as prime minister this month, said in his last major speech to the nation.
这些场地往往十分干净且维护良好，较旧的大楼定期会进行整修。“这就是为什么与世界其他地方的公共住房项目不同，我们的组屋永远不会变成贫民区或贫民窟，”本月卸任总理职务的李显龙在向全国发表的最后一次重要讲话中表示。
But ministers have previously made clear that the upgrading of facilities such as elevators is contingent on electoral support for the governing People’s Action Party, which has been in power since Singapore’s independence.
但部长们此前曾明确表示，电梯等设施的升级取决于对执政的人民行动党在选举中的支持率。该党自新加坡独立以来一直执政。
They are entwined with the country’s success.
与国家的成功密不可分。
Singapore started building subsidized housing in the late 1940s. Over the next decade it constructed 20,000 subsidized apartments, but they barely met the needs of its roughly 1.6 million people at the time, who were still living in squatters. Another 31,000 flats were built after the H.D.B. was set up in 1960.
新加坡在20世纪40年代末开始建造保障性住房。在接下来的十年里建造了2万套补贴公寓，但它们几乎不能满足当时大约160万人的需求，这些人仍然住在棚户区。1960年建屋发展局组屋计划开始后，又新建了3.1万套公寓。
In 1964, the government introduced the Home Ownership for the People Scheme, which became the cornerstone of Singapore’s public housing policy. Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore’s founding father, believed that homeownership would give every citizen a stake in a country of immigrants with no shared history.
1964年，政府推出居者有其屋计划，成为新加坡公共住房政策的基石。新加坡开国元勋李光耀认为，在这个没有共同历史的移民国家，拥有住房将让每个公民都有自己的一份根基。
A few years later, in a bid to help more people become homeowners, the authorities allowed citizens to use their savings from a government retirement fund to pay for the down payment and monthly mortgage installments for an apartment. It also introduced other programs and grants to help low-income families. And by 1985, virtually every Singaporean was living in a home.
几年后，为了帮助更多的人拥有自己的房子，当局允许公民使用他们在政府退休基金中的储蓄，来支付公寓的首付款和每月按揭分期付款。它还引入了其他项目和赠款来帮助低收入家庭。到1985年，几乎每个新加坡人都住在自己的房子里。
The government is trying to increase affordability.
政府努力平抑房价。
Last year, the government introduced more housing grants to help first-time buyers and families buy homes in the secondary market. Lawrence Wong, who is now the prime minister, acknowledged then that some Singaporeans wanted to buy resale apartments for their first home but found prices too high.
去年，政府推出了更多的住房补贴，帮助首次购房者和家庭在二级市场购买住房。现任总理黄循财当时承认，一些新加坡人想购买二手房作为自己的首套房，但发现价格太高。
To deal with high demand for apartments in preferable locations, Mr. Lee, the previous prime minister, announced last August that the government would impose new rules to restrict sales. They go into effect in the second half of this year. Owners of these units will be able to sell them only after living in them for 10 years. In addition, the government would impose an income ceiling for buyers in the secondary market, in line with the restrictions that it has for buyers of new flats.
去年8月，前总理李显龙宣布，为了应对优越地段公寓的高需求，政府将出台新规定，限制销售。它们将于今年下半年生效。这些优越地段公寓的业主只有在居住10年之后才能出售。此外，政府将对二级市场的买家设定收入上限，与政府对新公寓买家的限制保持一致。
In a statement, Singapore’s Housing and Development Board said the three rounds of cooling measures that it has implemented since 2021 have resulted in resale prices increasing at a slower rate of 4.9 percent in 2023, compared to 10.4 percent in 2022. It said that it expects the housing market “will continue to stabilize in the coming year” because of a significant supply of new homes.
新加坡建屋发展局在声明中表示，2021年以来，该局已实施了三轮降温措施，导致2023年转售价格涨幅放缓至4.9%，而2022年为10.4%。该机构表示，由于新房供应充足，预计房地产市场“将在未来一年继续企稳”。
Few buyers have to put up a lot of cash.
很少有购房者需要支付大量现金。
The government typically proposes new projects and then holds a lottery for prospective buyers. These apartments are called “build-to-order” (B.T.O.) flats, and demand often outstrips supply. Successful applicants can then select the location and size of the apartment in the proposed sites. Construction begins when buyers have signed up for about 70 percent of the units. Last year, the median waiting time for an apartment to be ready was three years and 10 months.
政府通常会提出新项目，然后让潜在买家抽签。这些公寓被称为“预购组屋”(BTO)，往往供不应求。然后，抽签抽中的申请者可以在拟议的地块选择公寓的位置和大小。当买家签约购买了大约70%的单位后，施工建设就会开始。去年，等待公寓完工的时间中位数为三年10个月。
Because many Singaporeans use savings from their government-run retirement funds to buy a home, few have to put up a lot of cash. Depending on household incomes, families that are eligible first-time buyers can obtain housing grants of up to 80,000 Singaporean dollars, or roughly $60,000.
由于许多新加坡人用政府管理的退休基金中的储蓄来买房，所以很少有人需要拿出很多现金。根据家庭收入的不同，符合条件的首次购房者家庭可以获得最高8万新加坡元（合6万美元）的住房补贴。
A two-bedroom flat sold by the government in the west side of Singapore goes for roughly 202,000 Singaporean dollars ($150,000) before grants.
政府在新加坡西部出售的一套两居室公寓在没有补贴的情况下，售价约为20.2万新加坡元（合15万美元）。
There are restrictions on buyers.
对买家有限制。
The Singapore government has used public housing incentives to encourage the formation of families and racial integration.
新加坡政府利用公共住房激励措施来鼓励家庭组建和种族融合。
It imposes strict rules on who can apply for B.T.O. flats, namely: heterosexual Singaporean couples who are either married or engaged; couples with children; couples who want to live with their parents; and orphaned siblings. Buyers of these apartments have to live in it for a minimum of five years before they can sell.
它对谁可以申请预购组屋有着严格的规定：已婚或订婚的新加坡异性恋夫妇；有子女的夫妇；希望与父母同住的夫妇；还有失去双亲的兄弟姐妹。这些公寓的购买者必须在其中居住至少五年才能出售。
For years, the government did not allow single people to buy these apartments, but it gradually relaxed the rules over time. Last August, Mr. Lee said singles 35 and older could buy one-bedroom apartments in any location, starting in the second half of this year. Previously, they were allowed to buy only in a dozen developments with fewer amenities.
多年来，政府不允许单身人士购买这样的公寓，但随着时间的推移，它逐渐放宽了规定。去年8月，李显龙说，从今年下半年开始，35岁及以上的单身人士可以在任何地点购买一居室公寓。此前，这些人只被允许在设施较少的十几个开发项目中买房。
In 1989, the government enacted a policy requiring each block or neighborhood to have a minimum quota of each of the main ethnic groups in the city — Chinese, Malay and Indian — to prevent the formation of racial enclaves.
1989年，政府颁布了一项政策，要求每个街区或社区对城市中的所有主要族群——华人、马来人和印度人——都有最低配额，以防止形成种族聚居地。
Tharman Shanmugaratnam, the current president, said in 2015 that “the natural workings of society” would have led to “mistrust, discomfort, bigotry and what we see in abundance in many countries in the world today.”
现任总统尚达曼在2015年表示，“社会的自然运行”会导致“不信任、不安、偏执，以及我们今天在世界上许多国家看到的诸多现象”。
He added: “The most intrusive social policy in Singapore has turned out to be the most important.”
“在新加坡，最具干涉性的社会政策，结果却成了最重要的政策，”他还说。
“Once people live together, they are not just walking the corridors together everyday, taking the same elevator up and down,” he said. “Their kids go to the same kindergarten, their kids go to the same primary school.”
“一旦人们住在一起，他们不仅仅是每天一起走过走廊，坐同一部电梯上上下下，”他说。“他们的孩子进入同一所幼儿园，同一所小学。”
(本新闻网址：https://www.geilien.cn/news/2024/nyhousing.html)
黄瑞黎(Sui-Lee Wee)是《纽约时报》东南亚分社社长，领导对该地区11个国家的报道。
Chang W. Lee担任时报摄影师已有30年，报道世界各地的事件。他目前驻首尔。欢迎在Instagram上关注他：@nytchangster。
翻译：纽约时报中文网
