Elderly food stall owner tells Nicole Seah she’s planning to retire; with rent now $6K monthly, it’s becoming unsustainable for her

SINGAPORE: In her engagement with residents on the ground at East Coast GRC, Ms Nicole Seah, the president of The Workers’ Party Youth Wing, has heard about the situation of different people, including one elderly woman who’s had a western food stall but now intends to retire as “the rent had gone up to $6k a month and it was becoming unsustainable for her to run the stall.”

Others told her they would like to have seen more support measures in Budget 2023, which was announced by Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Lawrence Wong on Feb 14, Ms Seah wrote in a Facebook post on Sunday (Feb 26). These support measures include “caregiver leave for people who have to take care of their elderly parents whilst juggling work.”

The WP Youth Wing president called the engagement with residents fruitful, adding, “As much has been said about needing to ensure future generations are taken care of, I hope it will not be a zero sum game for the current generation.

A current generation that is presently well taken care of will also bode well for future generations as they are better equipped and more independently able to create a positive future for their kith and kin.”

In an earlier Facebook post, she wrote about an issue that foreign workers in Fengshan are facing.

For some foreign residents, rent has more than doubled, she wrote, adding, “Foreign residents here are prone to unfortunate trade-offs and sacrifices as a result of these recent changes.”

She gave the example of a family of Malaysian white-collar professionals, for whom the costs of living, childcare, and rent in Singapore have become so high that they are now leaving their young baby in Malaysia, and just visiting their family during the weekends.

But this is an issue that affects Singaporeans, not only foreign residents, Ms Seah added.

“Foreign residents being affected by cost of living and rental hikes affect us to a degree as well, as many of them are colleagues and friends in our midst, whom we have grown accustomed to working with and living alongside.” /TISG

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