State Sen. Stanley Chang’s proposal to create residential condominiums to sell in the $300,000 range was spot on (“The Singapore solution,” Star-Advertiser, Nov. 17).

The continuous procession of $1 million condos in Kakaako is great for the tax base, but produces a cost-raising cascading effect that pushes up rental prices and pushes low-income families onto the streets.

I worked in Singapore when Lee Kwan Yew became prime minister and saw the seemingly instant construction of one low-income residential high-rise after another. The effect? Some 3 million souls living modestly and comfortably on an island the size of Molokai.

Similarly, a recent tour of Shanghai and environs revealed many clusters of high-rise residences in a city of 20 million. I stayed with a family in one such building. It was not fancy but was of First-World quality.

Singapore and Shanghai point the way to scalable modest, affordable housing. Let’s build on city or state land and get it done like they did it.

Howard C. Wiig

Manoa

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