Hawker food is not only affordable and delicious, they are also the pride and joy of Singaporeans, drawing in massive droves of tourists from all around the world…

… that is if COVID-19 didn’t have a say in it.

This is why so many Singaporeans rallied together to stand behind the hardworking hawker stall owners when they realized that despite already being hit hard by COVID-19, the National Environmental Agency (NEA) still decided to increase their rent by about 40%.

Hawker Stalls Rental Increases by About 40%

The National Environmental Agency (NEA) has drawn flak from avid advocates of the #SupportOurHawkers movement as well as Singaporeans in general when Kf Seetoh posted a letter that was sent to all hawkers regarding a whopping 40% stall rental increase on a lengthy Facebook post.

The rental increase is justified in the letter from the NEA “based on market rent assessed by independent professional valuers.”

With the Phase 3 Heightened Alert in place, Kf Seetoh put forward a compelling argument as to why it’s incredibly bad timing to impose a rent increase at this time on hawkers.

As he puts it in his Facebook post, “Even with this 2 people rule (even with the promised 5 people rule next month), things aren’t looking rosy for them.”

“Lotsa folks are buying online and WFM, a seductive and convenient culture ingrained into us over the last year and many offline hawkers are left to dry out.”

He added, “Two to a table with 3 turns at peak lunch hour is only 6 dishes n drinks, that’s just scratching at hope’s door.”

To him, it seems like this rental increase is the final nail in the coffin for the #SupportOurHawkers movement.

The NEA’s Response

The NEA released a statement on Facebook further explaining and clarifying the reason behind the revised rental amount.

They explained that the usual tenancy of a hawker stall is 3 years and that rental is kept unchanged throughout those 3 years.

If stallholders obtained their stalls through NEA’s monthly stall tender, they could have been paying incredibly low rent for those 3 years.

As low as “even S$1” as the NEA wrote in their Facebook post, or as high as “a few hundred dollars”.

They also explained that after the 3-year period, the rent will then be re-evaluated based on the market rate.

According to the NEA, “The rentals upon renewal can therefore be higher or lower than what they were paying.”

“For example, if there was fierce competition for a particular stall at tender and the successful rental submitted is higher than the valuers’ market rates at renewal, the rental will fall to the market rate.”

“In situations when rentals are adjusted higher however, NEA moderates the amount of increase instead of allowing a large jump to the prevailing market rate.”

They added that “In recent years, rental revision upwards at tenancy renewals in our hawker centres have not exceeded $300.”

“It is misleading to look at percentage increases alone as a $300 increase from a low rental will appear as a large percentage increase.”

Rental Waivers and Subsidies: We Support the Hawkers Too – NEA

As some people have been claiming that the NEA is tone-deaf to the hawkers’ hardships during the COVID-19 pandemic, the post also pointed out that the agency had already frozen rental increase from 1 April 2020 to 31 March 2021.

This is in addition to the 5 months of rental waivers and 3 months of subsidies hawker stall owners will receive for table-cleaning and centralised dishwashing services in 2020.

Stallholders get 2 months of rental waivers and subsidies for table-cleaning and centralised dishwashing services in 2021 as well.

Some eligible hawkers are even able to get even more relief of up to 9 months via the Self-Employed Person Income Relief fund.

An Outpour of Fury Towards the NEA and Support for the Hawkers from Netizens

Despite putting out a well-worded explanation as to why the rental increase is justified, they are still getting a lot of hate in the comments.

This is because ultimately, they didn’t understand that Singaporeans are incensed not mainly because of the percentage of the rental increase or even the rental increase itself (though that is still the main focus of many of the comments), but the timing of the increase.

As a netizen commented, “Clarification is, of course, logical. But that being said, even if the current rental is $1 or $100, why increase rents at all at this stressful point in time?”

Another netizen agreed, saying that “NEA, regardless whether that 40% = $30, $300, or $3000, an increase done at this time is just done in extremely poor taste. Shame on you.”

Or as this netizen puts it best, “Whether it is 40% or no increment, when there is a possibility of one making a loss, any increment could be the straw that breaks the camel’s back.”

“I wish for NEA to reconsider any rental increment during this tough time for everyone. There will always be opportunity to make this 40% only increment,” he continued.

Many netizens are concerned about the potential increase in the cost of hawker food due to the rental increase as well, with one saying “The increase will definitely pass to the end customer. Hawker food is getting less affordable.”

Others are worried that this rental increase might just be the final straw for many older hawker stall owners.

Featured Image: Facebook (National Environment Agency (NEA); Kf Seetoh)