The Lift Upgrading Programme (LUP) was launched by HDB in 2001 to provide residents with lift access to every floor. In this year’s COS, I am asking once again for same-floor lift access for all residents.
This is not merely about convenience; it is a fundamental issue of equity, safety, and dignity. As our population ages, a few steps become a daily, insurmountable wall separating seniors and those with mobility challenges from their community and essential services.
HDB’s common reply to my many appeal letters to HDB on behalf of residents without same floor lift access in the past few years was that such blocks are “not eligible for LUP due to high costs and/or technical constraints”.
In Hougang, recent breakthroughs are both welcomed and puzzling. HDB started work on offering LUP for Blk 833 Hougang Central in 2023. In September 2025, HDB offered LUP to the remaining units at Blk 363 Hougang Avenue 5.
On 6 September 2024, HDB replied in writing to my appeal for a Blk 363 resident, stating explicitly that the cost per flat had (I quote) "exceeded the LUP costs cap substantially. Hence we are unable to implement LUP..” (unquote). Yet, barely twelve months later, HDB changed their minds.
Affected residents at Blk 830, 831, 832 and 835 have wondered why did HDB offer LUP to remaining units of Blk 833 and 363 but not their blocks. No reasons have been offered by HDB for their change of mind for the 2 blocks.
The Minister for National Development’s reply to my Parliamentary Question of 3 February 2026 revealed that, of the 140 blocks in Singapore with no full same floor lift access, 100 blocks remain unfeasible because costs of LUP exceed $200,000 per unit.
The minister also said that LUP will be extended to the other 40 more blocks progressively. May we know which are these blocks and how soon will LUP be awarded? With a clear roadmap, residents in the remaining blocks will not be in a state of anxious limbo.
Notwithstanding increase of the value of the Lift Access Housing Grant to $80,000, many affected residents have told me that they do not want to be uprooted and they want to stay in their homes with dignity.
These architectural barriers result from an outdated design before the mid-90s; residents did not choose them. In fact, during a recent house visit, one affected Blk 832 resident told me that at the time of choosing the unit, they were not told that it did not come with same floor lift access unlike other units in the block.
Whether it is a historical architectural debt or a HDB debt, providing same-floor lift access is only fair to all HDB homeowners.
I would therefore like to ask the Minister the following:
- Please define a clear timeline for LUP for the 40 blocks. Let the residents know as soon as possible HDB’s LUP plans for them.
- Please consider removing the proposed hard cap for the remaining 100 blocks, and set aside a dedicated "Final Mile" fund for LUP.
Former Hougang MP, Mr Png Eng Huat, have said in this house previously to the effect that why weren’t the affected blocks combined with other neighbouring blocks in previous bulk LUP projects in the earlier days, instead of tendering only difficult blocks for LUP by themselves later. The former could have been more cost-effective, not to mention that LUP costs would have been lower say 10-15 years ago or before Covid.
We must not let the remaining residents without same floor lift access be defined by the technical limits of a bygone era. I urge the Government to bridge this 'final mile' and ensure that every HDB homeowner can age in place with the dignity of same-floor access.
