19/50: Tiong Bahru SIT Flats

Guess what - mass public housing is not an HDB-created (and, by extension, PAP-created) idea. The SIT, or Singapore Improvement Trust, was established by the colonial government to convert slums into flats (sound familiar?), and in the 1930s built the first public housing flats in Tiong Bahru. These SIT flats are notable for their strong focus on aesthetics and lack of lifts, resulting in distinct and pretty staircases on their exteriors that are so hipster and Instagrammable today. What the SIT lacked and the HDB made up for, however, was efficiency - the former built only 23,000 units in 32 years, and the latter took over in 1960 to eventually cater for over 80% of the population's housing needs.

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