In a supplementary question, Ms Yeo cited escalating rental prices of up to 30 per cent. She asked what are the considerations in deciding which coffee shops are sold or rented.
Ms Sim replied that while HDB began selling coffee shops from 1988, it stopped doing so from 1998.
Since 2018, all new HDB coffeeshops have been let out under the Price-Quality Method tender, which is based on a range of criteria beyond rent. These include affordability considerations.
As a landlord, HDB does its part to keep rents stable and encourages the provision of affordable meals, said Ms Sim.
She added that HDB is mindful that that coffee shops need to be operated by those in the trade. "We are also mindful that HDB is not itself directly in the business of cooked food provision. So we do need to allow room for the coffee shop operators as well as stallholders to abide by market principles and operate.
"I think Ms Yeo would appreciate that our approach towards sold, privately owned coffee shops would have to be different than the ones that HDB owns and then rents out because the relationship with the operators in the two instances are quite different."
Assoc Prof Jamus Lim (WP-Sengkang) asked if there are plans to reacquire privately owned coffee shops so that all coffee shops would come under HDB, adding that some private operators in his constituency have passed on rental increases to customers in the form of higher food prices.
To this, Ms Sim replied: "I think that's something that (the) government would consider very carefully and it's not a step that we would take lightly.
"In terms of how (the) government generally deals with the private sector, I think it's also important that we are clear about where the market is free to operate and where the government comes in with interventions."
She said that the best safeguard against higher food prices would be by ensuring a "wide availability" of food options across Singapore.
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