Family Care Scheme

Singapore's Family Care Scheme (FCS) is an HDB priority scheme for parents and their children who want to live together or near one another for mutual care and support. HDB's current priority-schemes page describes the eligible family relationship as covering parents and children whether they are married or single. The FCS is a flat-allocation and application-priority mechanism, not a cash grant or a promise that an applicant will receive a flat in every sales exercise (HDB, accessed Aug 2026).

FCS (Proximity)

The Proximity route is for parents and their child or children to apply for a new flat so that the households can live with or near one another. This route replaced the older Married Child Priority Scheme (MCPS) from mid-2025. The policy change broadened the relationship category: the Family Care Scheme is described as offering priority access to parents and their children, married or single, rather than limiting the scheme to a married child (Made For Families, last updated 22 Apr 2026, accessed Aug 2026).

“Near” is a scheme condition, not an invitation to treat any preferred location as qualifying. Applicants still have to satisfy HDB's applicable flat, household, citizenship, and application requirements, and the relevant sales exercise must offer the flat type and project being sought. The HDB priority-schemes page is the controlling place to check current application mechanics and eligibility; the general description alone should not be used to infer a guaranteed ballot outcome (HDB, accessed Aug 2026).

FCS (Joint Balloting)

The Joint Balloting route addresses families who want two separate homes in the same project. HDB says parents and their child or children, married or single, can make a joint application for two units in a BTO project that offers 2-room Flexi or 3-room flats (HDB, accessed Aug 2026). The route therefore differs from the Proximity route: joint balloting concerns two units in one qualifying BTO project, while the Proximity route concerns living with or near each other. The two routes should not be collapsed into a general “family housing grant,” and joint balloting should not be described as a right to choose any two available units.

Relationship to other HDB priorities

FCS is one of several HDB priority schemes. It is distinct from the Family and Parenthood Priority Scheme, which supports certain first-timer parents and young married couples, and from the Third Child Priority Scheme, which supports families with at least three children. The Third Child Priority Scheme has its own eligibility boundary and, from June 2026, a stated quota of up to 10% of BTO flats or Sale of Balance Flats units, increased from up to 5%; that quota is not an FCS quota (Made For Families, last updated 22 Apr 2026, accessed Aug 2026). For an actual application, use HDB's current priority-scheme and sales-exercise instructions rather than assuming that qualifying for one priority route automatically qualifies a household for another.

What FCS does not provide

FCS does not itself state a grant amount, income ceiling, proximity distance, or universal allocation guarantee in the HDB summary page cited here. Those details must be taken from the current HDB application instructions for the relevant route and sales exercise. The Proximity Housing Grant is a separate resale-flat grant and should not be confused with FCS priority for a new-flat application (HDB, accessed Aug 2026).