As Singapore moves to tighten marriage equality rules, LGBTQ buyers face higher hurdles to get public flats

The city state’s plan to bolster rules preventing same-sex marriages could make it even harder for LGBTQ applicants to get equal access to subsidised homes

‘There’s the assumption that queer Singaporeans will simply rent or buy private property, because there’s the perception that we are rich,’ a citizen says

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Around 80 per cent of Singaporeans live in state-subsidised public housing that serves as their primary asset. Photo: Reuters

Published: 1:50pm, 25 Aug 2022Updated: 2:02pm, 25 Aug 2022

Singapore’s move to bolster rules preventing same-sex marriages could be a serious blow to the nation’s LGBTQ community in one of the city state’s most important wealth and lifestyle areas: housing.

Around 80 per cent of Singaporeans live in state-subsidised public housing that serves as their primary asset. Access to new flats is largely set aside for young, married couples, with grants of as much as S$80,000 (US$57,000). LGBTQ applicants – categorised as single buyers – can only enter the market when they turn 35, with a limited pool of smaller apartments to choose from and lower government subsidies.

“At a time when my peers were settling down and building homes, it was very clear that was out of reach for me,” said Adrianna Tan, a 36-year-old Singaporean professional now living in San Francisco with her wife. “There’s the assumption that queer Singaporeans will simply rent or buy private property, because there’s the perception that we are rich.”

In a speech on Sunday, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said the government would repeal Section 377A of the penal code that criminalises sex between men, but would also amend the constitution to protect the legal definition of marriage – a union between a man and a woman – from being challenged in the courts.

The move was seen as a compromise between LGBTQ rights advocates and more conservative members of Singaporean society, but it frustrated people who had hoped to see the government go further since Section 377A has gone unenforced for years.

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