Sumun Biswas, a hydraulic operator from Bangladesh, was involved in consultations with officials here on how migrant worker housing here can be improved. - Photo: ST
SINGAPORE: Lockers for personal belongings? Check. Single beds? Check. Private spaces for personal calls? Check.
As far as Sumun Biswas, 44, is concerned, a new government-owned migrant worker dormitory that will open in early 2026 checks all the boxes.
Since August 2023, the Bangladeshi hydraulic operator has been involved in consultations with the authorities on how migrant worker housing here can be improved.
He was thus happy to see his views put into practice at the upcoming dorm in Tukang Innovation Lane in Jurong. It is the first of two purpose-built dorms to be constructed and owned by the Ministry of Manpower (MOM).
“We are happy, from our heart,” he said, when asked for a review of the dorm’s features.
The dorm will also have an en-suite toilet and free Wi-Fi in every room, in addition to spacious kitchens on every floor.
It is a dream come true for Biswas and the dozens of migrant workers who took part in the design process. It is also a significant move by MOM to show the wider industry what is possible with some forethought and ingenuity.
But there are caveats.
First, while the improved design of the Tukang dorm is an important step towards raising the bar for migrant worker housing, the day that every worker in Singapore gets to live in such a conducive environment is still more than 15 years away.
In 2021, MOM imposed a new set of regulatory standards on newly built dorms to improve liveability and boost their ability to contain disease outbreaks.
But in the light of infrastructural constraints and concerns over higher costs, existing dorms have until 2040 to meet the full set of requirements.
This means many workers here will still have to put up with less than ideal conditions for the foreseeable future.
Second, some of the new features at MOM’s Tukang dorm, such as the provision of single beds, are over and above what the new dorm standards stipulate.
This is part of an effort to drive innovation in migrant workers’ living spaces. The ministry said the alternative design of its Tukang dorm has drawn keen interest from some dorm operators.
But whether these operators ultimately follow MOM’s lead to do more than meet the new standards remains a question mark.
And only time will tell if privately run dorms will also adopt MOM’s approach of consulting workers and taking into account what they want and need.
More work to be done
To MOM’s credit, after the Covid-19 pandemic laid bare the cramped, often unsanitary conditions in dorms here, the ministry made a stronger push to improve the living environment of migrant workers.
It quickly introduced the new dorm standards, which include a cap of 12 residents in each room, at least 4.2 sq m of personal living space per resident and mandatory en-suite toilets.
MOM also expanded the scope of the Foreign Employee Dormitories Act to include all dorms with seven beds or more, giving the law more teeth.
Today, about 200 dorms with a combined capacity of 70,000 beds already meet the new standards.
In addition, seven new purpose-built dorms with a total of 47,000 beds are also being built to the new requirements. These include MOM’s new Tukang dorm and its other dorm in Sengkang West that will be completed around mid-2028.
Still, the positive developments so far come from just a fraction of the dorms here, and other dorms have their work cut out for them.
Based on MOM’s latest figures, there are more than 440,000 migrant workers in Singapore – the majority of whom are housed in more than 1,500 dorms scattered across the island.
Of the existing dorms, about 1,000 are required to adopt the new standards by 2040. Exemptions have been given to between 200 and 250 temporary quarters, and around 200 dorms with leases expiring in 2033 or earlier.
The ministry said taking a phased approach will give existing dorms enough time to adopt the new standards, and minimise the disruption to the supply of dorm beds.
The lengthy transition period may be a bitter pill to swallow – given the state some dorms are in – but it is not without basis.
Post-pandemic, the migrant worker population in Singapore has swelled to a record high. And it remains a challenge for employers to find suitable accommodation for their foreign workers.
Centurion Corporation, one of Singapore’s largest dorm operators, reported a 99 per cent occupancy rate in the first half of 2024 – a sign of the tight bed supply that has, in turn, caused rental rates to skyrocket.
The worry is that retrofitting too many existing dorms too quickly will cause bed supply to shrink, increasing rental rates further.
The other major hurdle is the sheer variety of dorms, and the amount of retrofitting needed to bring all of them up to speed. While it is easier for some to carry out upgrades, others have said meeting the new requirements would mean a complete teardown of their facilities.
Manpower Minister Tan See Leng summed up these constraints on Nov 17: “We all wish... (that with) the snap of a finger, everything can come into being.
“But the fact is that we also need to take into consideration the constraints of the space that we have.”
Dr Tan also pointed to the backlog of public housing, construction and manufacturing projects as another reason for pacing dorm upgrades.
As a compromise, MOM has mandated that most dorms meet at least a set of interim requirements by 2030, citing the need to mitigate the growing risk of large-scale disease outbreaks.
The ministry said in September that 14 dorms with a combined capacity of 100,000 beds have already started work to upgrade their facilities or told MOM of their plans to do so.
What’s next?
While there may be legitimate constraints on what can be done in terms of infrastructure, it does not mean the quality of life of migrant workers here cannot be improved in the meantime.
Migrant rights groups have long called for more to be done to improve the way food is delivered to workers and the quality of the catered food.
Providing basic appliances such as refrigerators, for example, would make it easier for workers to store perishable groceries and keep pests away.
Many dorms are in remote areas, so providing workers with adequate transport options is another way to ensure their needs are better met.
Then there are other longstanding issues related to unpaid wages, workplace injuries and wrongful termination.
MOM’s new dorm standards should also not be the be-all and end-all of the future of migrant worker housing.
The new Tukang dorm is a case in point.
MOM eschewed its own requirement of at least 1m of space between beds there, so that it could accommodate a mix of single and double beds, and carve out dedicated space in each room for socialisation – things that workers had asked for.
To surmount the regulatory hurdle, MOM roped in A*Star to provide empirical evidence that the new room layout still meets public health standards.
With the ministry showing its willingness to be flexible with the letter of the law to allow for alternative dorm designs that improve liveability, the ball is now in the industry’s court to effect real change, and not just do the bare minimum.
As MOM also showed, the key to this is getting migrant workers involved in the design process, and putting their needs front and centre.
Not only does this give dorm residents greater ownership over their living spaces, it also helps to identify gaps that may otherwise go unnoticed.
For instance, a research project by three non-governmental organisations (NGOs) – Here With You Social Services, Soap Cycling Singapore and Migrant Workers Singapore – found a strong desire among workers for bedside tables and personal lights so they can read and write at night. These fittings are not stipulated under the law.
The groups also said in their report published in June that MOM’s new standards still fall short of what workers expect their ideal dorms to look like, especially in terms of occupancy limits and personal space.
In addition, the NGOs noted that without an independent and safe channel for workers to offer feedback, MOM’s improved standards risk becoming a one-off exercise.
All this is to say that raising migrant worker housing standards in Singapore on paper is a step in the right direction.
But for meaningful improvements to workers’ living conditions to be made, the industry must put the needs and dignity of workers first. - The Straits Times/ANN
