A chat with Prof Ng Kok Hoe

We’re so thankful to have had Prof Ng Kok Hoe take time off to conduct a sharing with our volunteers on the topic of housing insecurity in Singapore. Many might know him from his involvement in the book “They told us to move: Dakota - Cassia” which he co-edited, but his work goes far beyond this! He is a well-respected researcher concerned with issues like retirement income security, minimum income standards, social housing policy, and homelessness. 

On top of being a senior research fellow and Head of the Case Study Unit at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, he also holds a Ph.D. in Social Policy from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) where he was a UK Commonwealth Scholar and won the Titmuss Prize. He has also consulted for the government and NGOs on social policies and social services. His research is concerned with retirement income security, minimum income standards, social housing policy, and homelessness. He even led the first nationwide street count of homelessness in Singapore in 2019, how cool is that! 

All our mentors benefitted greatly from his sharing and the fruitful discussion that followed. All of us took home insights on the types of public housing policies and what they mean to rental flat tenants in Singapore. It was interesting to see how policy and types of environments shaped the circumstances of the communities we serve!