Pilot to enable more people with disabilities to live independently

Up to 250 adults will live in cluster of rental flats or be supported in their own homes

- Chin Soo Fang

Adults with disabilities will receive support to live independently in the community in the coming years alongside care and coaching services to meet their needs through life.

Up to 250 individuals will join a pilot known as Enabled Living Programme from 2025 to 2028, where they will live in a cluster of Housing Board rental flats or be supported in their own homes.

Help could include coaching in social skills, care support for daily living activities and on-site monitoring, depending on their needs.

The target group for the pilot, which is a key recommendation from a task force looking at housing and care models for people with disabilities (PWDs), is adults with low to moderate needs who require support to live and participate in the community.

The Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF) and disability agency SG Enable will work with relevant agencies to design and implement the scheme, and better understand the support needed by PWDs to live on their own in the community.

Mr Eric Chua, Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Social and Family Development, said: "Through our engagements, persons with disabilities and caregivers have asked for alternative housing and service models so that persons with disabilities can continue living in the community as long as possible, even when their family members and primary caregivers have passed on."

He was announcing several initiatives planned for PWDs to work and live in the community at the Enabling Academy Learning Festival 2024, which was held at the Lifelong Learning Institute in Eunos on Sept 16.

The task force was formed in 2022 under the Enabling Masterplan 2030, Singapore's latest road map to support people with disabilities and enable them to contribute to society.

All its recommendations have been accepted by the MSF.