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NG, Kok Hoe

NG, Kok Hoe

NG, Kok Hoe

Senior Research Fellow, Head of Case Insights Unit & Social Inclusion Project

PhD in Social Policy (Titmuss Prize), The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE)

Ng Kok Hoe is Senior Research Fellow and Head of the Case Insights Unit at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, where he also leads the Social Inclusion Project, a research programme dedicated to analysing the role of public policies in creating opportunities for participation.

He received his PhD 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. Since leaving the Singapore civil service, he has consulted for the government and NGOs on social policies and social services.

His research is concerned with income security and housing policy. He contributes media commentaries and gives public lectures on these topics regularly. He led the first nationwide street count of homelessness in Singapore and is co-editor of the book "They told us to move: Dakota—Cassia" (Ethos Books), which examines the impact of housing relocation on a social housing community. He is part of the Minimum Income Standards research team which studied the budgets that households need for a basic standard of living and proposed a living wage for Singapore.

He currently serves as President of the Humanitarian Organization for Migration Economics (HOME), an NGO that champions the rights of migrant workers, and on the council of the Criticare Fund for Migrant Workers, a community-led initiative that raises funds for migrant workers diagnosed with critical illnesses. He is also a member of the Panel of Experts at AWWA, a social service agency that supports children, families, older people and persons with additional needs.

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  • Ageing and poverty

  • Community-based social interventions

  • Old-age pensions and income security

  • Public housing policy

  • Social housing

  • PP5150 Social welfare in East Asia

  • PP5151 Comparative case study method

  • PP5408 Qualitative research methods for public policy

  • PP5416 Social, urban, and environmental policy

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Authored Book

4

Journal Articles

2

Book Chapters

  • Measuring needs and setting standards in Singapore

    Ng KH, Neo YW, Teo YY, Maulod A, & Ting YT. (2020). Measuring needs and setting standards in Singapore. In C. Deeming (Ed.), Minimum income standards and reference budgets: International and comparative policy perspectives (pp. 83-96). Bristol, UK: Policy Press.

  • Can Singapore’s Central Provident Fund still meet retirement income needs?

    Ng KH. (2015). Can Singapore’s Central Provident Fund still meet retirement income needs? In M. Sherraden, L. Zou, H. Ku, S. Deng & S. Wang (Eds.), Asset-building policies and innovations in Asia (pp. 104–22). Oxon: Routledge.

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Op-Eds

  • How people think about basic needs

    Teo YY, & Ng KH. (2022, January 14). How people think about basic needs. The Karyawan.

  • Why it is time for a different approach to income security

    Ng, KH. (2021). Why it is time for a different approach to income security.
    MENDAKI Policy Digest 2020.

  • How far have we come in tackling homelessness in Singapore?

    Ng, KH. (2020, November 23). How far have we come in tackling
    homelessness in Singapore? Rice.

  • Crisis is exactly the time to make structural changes to address poverty and inequality.

    Teo YY, & Ng KH. (2020, March 17). Crisis is exactly the time to make structural changes to address poverty and inequality. Academia.sg.

  • A living wage for Singapore

    Ng KH, & Teo YY. (2022). A living wage for Singapore. Directors Bulletin (Singapore Institute of Directors, Quarter 2, 2020).

  • How to achieve a basic standard of living for older people in Singapore

    Ng KH, Yeo YY. (2019, May 23). How to achieve a basic standard of living for older people in Singapore. The Edge.

  • Direct interventions, not just social mixing, needed to narrow housing inequalities

    Ng KH. (2018, June 23). Direct interventions, not just social mixing, needed to narrow housing inequalities. Channel NewsAsia.

  • Tackling inequality requires robust measures and clear standards

    Ng KH. (2018, May 30). Tackling inequality requires robust measures and clear standards. Today.

  • To tackle inequality, policy mindsets must change

    Ng KH. (2018, May 11). To tackle inequality, policy mindsets must change. The Straits Times.

  • Why we shouldn’t ask for Budget hongbao

    Ng KH. (2018, February 22). Why we shouldn’t ask for Budget hongbao. The Straits Times.

  • HDB should apply its own occupancy rules to rental housing

    Ng KH, Neo YW. (2018, February 16). HDB should apply its own occupancy rules to rental housing. The Straits Times.

  • Getting to the nub of homelessness

    Neo YW, Ng KH. (2017, October 17). Getting to the nub of homelessness.
    Today.

  • 99-year HDB flats a chance to review homeownership and retirement policies

    Ng KH. (2017, October 1). 99-year HDB flats a chance to review
    homeownership and retirement policies. Channel NewsAsia.
  • Civil society’s role cannot be to provide public goods
    Ng KH, & Teo YY. (2017, June 5) Civil society’s role cannot be to provide
    public goods. The Straits Times.
  • Elderly workers: Many working out of need, not out of choice
    Ng KH. (2017). Elderly workers: Many working out of need, not out of choice. The Straits Times, May 18.
  • Don’t write off the benefits of universal social policies
    Ng KH. (2016, June 14). Don’t write off the benefits of universal social
    policies. Today.

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Others