Racial residential patterns in Singapore: What happens after the implementation of racial quotas in public housing?

This article examines the impact of Singapore’s Ethnic Integration Policy (EIP), implemented in 1989 to prevent ethnic enclaves in public housing, on geographic and socio-economic residential stratification. Using census and housing data, the study finds that contrary to prior research focusing on minority clustering, racial clustering predominantly occurs among the ethnic majority Chinese population, influenced by both the EIP’s racial quotas and socio-economic factors. The analysis also reveals that socio-economic disadvantage correlates with increased Malay residential concentration in lower-income areas, while middle-class Malays show upward mobility into higher-priced neighborhoods. Overall, the findings suggest that the EIP, while aiming to promote racial harmony, contributes to embedding racialized socio-economic inequalities and Chinese majority dominance in Singapore’s public housing landscape.