Helping families find stability as the stepping stone out of poverty

ComLink+ scheme helps families progress towards stability, self-reliance, social mobility

- Theresa Tan

Singapore's ambitious plan to uplift low-income families on the ComLink+ scheme starts by helping them achieve some measure of stability in their lives.

The ComLink+ scheme was launched in 2023 to boost social mobility. Under it, low-income families with children get financial incentives and other support if they take steps to better their lives.

There are four key areas of support: early education, home ownership, employment and debt clearance. The framework to track the progress of these ComLink+ families towards achieving stability, self-reliance and social mobility was reflected in a new report released on Nov 19.

The Ministry of Social and Family Development's (MSF) Supporting Lower-Income Households Trends Report shows the baseline data of more than 9,000 families on the ComLink+ scheme as at December 2023.

Only 42 per cent of these families were considered stable. This means they have met all the indicators used to measure stability, including enrolling their children in pre-school and being in stable employment.

Social workers say many of these families, who are among the poorest households here and live in highly subsidised Housing Board rental flats, face multiple complex problems such as illness, addiction and marital and financial woes.

Care Corner Singapore's director of family and community services Ian Peterson said these families are often in "survival mode", living from hand to mouth. He said: "If their lives are not stable, and they are in a crisis, they can't think of home ownership or higher goals. They don't have the bandwidth to deal with that."

The immediate task is to help families meet basic needs such as housing, health and employment, which would bring about some stability in their lives, he said.

Mr Peterson cited the example of a 22-year-old single mother with two young children. The woman suffers from major depression, and is divorced from her husband, who cheated on her.