Age eligibility for Community Care Apartments lowered from 65 to 55; monthly fees reduced
The qualification age for Community Care Apartments (CCAs) will be lowered from 65 to 55, the Ministry of Health (MOH), the Ministry of National Development (MND) and HDB announced on July 13. The lower eligibility age will take effect from the October Build-to-Order (BTO) sales exercise.
CCA residents are required to sign up to the BSP, that comprises a suite of care and support services, including 24-hour emergency response and assistance for easy home repairs. Residents can also add on optional solutions such as fall monitoring and house cleaning.
Furthermore, MOH will subsidise components of the BSP that resemble those currently subsidised under the Long-Term Care plans.
Additionally, the month-to-month standard service package (BSP) charges for CCAs will be minimized by 18% to 75%.
The adjustments are “aspect of the government’s wider efforts to increase housing and care alternatives for elders”, the companies claimed. Seniors aged 55 years of ages that wish to right-size their homes can consider both two-room flexi flats on short lease and CCAs, giving them more choices and period to organize ahead, they brought in.
To date, HDB has started 5 CCA plans– Harmony Village @ Bukit Batok, Queensway Canopy in Queenstown, Bedok’s Chai Chee Green, Merpati Alcove in Geylang and Sengkang’s Fernvale Plains.
Meanwhile, Christine Sun, chief researcher and planner at Realion (OrangeTee & ETC) Team, observes that the adjustments might divert some demand away from two-room flexi flats. “This means that other applicants, such as singles, will certainly have more 2-room flexi apartments to decide on, leading to a greater ballot results,” she includes.
A sixth CCA project are going to release in October as part of Toa Payoh West @ Caldecott, a BTO project alongside Caldecott MRT Station.
Lee Sze Teck, senior director for data analytics at Huttons Asia, considers that application prices for CCA developments have actually decreased over past launches. “The application price was 4.2 when it was initially presented [at Harmony Village @ Bukit Batok] But it has actually steadily relieved to 0.7 in the last CCA project in Fernvale Plains,” he states. However, he anticipates the brand-new measures to improve demand for CCAs, with the upcoming launch in Toa Payoh possibly gathering application rates above one.
According to MOH, MND and HDB, the BSP will certainly be made much more inexpensive by streamlining services delivered. Homeowners can also opt out of an emergency alert device initially supplied under the BSP, further decreasing costs.
First announced in 2021, CCAs are housing project for seniors who prefer to get older independently in the neighborhood. The developments include houses with senior-friendly fittings and also integrate social assistance services.
