Proposals · Part II · Rebuilding the hawker economy

Heritage Anchor Partnership (coffeeshops and food courts)

Coffeeshops and food courts may voluntarily host a certified heritage stall at a Band-B-equivalent rent in return for programme services and recognition.

VOLUNTARY FOR OPERATORS · NO RENT CONTROL
ASK OF GOVERNMENT · HDB TENDER SCORING
BUILDS ON · HDB'S JAN 2026 COFFEESHOP REVISION

A landlord offers one unit at a Band-B-equivalent rent on a multi-year term to a graduate landing or a relocating heritage stall. In exchange it gets the certified signage and marketing halo, priority Relief-Corps cover for every stall in the shop, and named recognition in public reporting. There is no rent control, no mandate and no penalty for declining. There are two routes in: in the roughly 400 HDB-rented coffeeshops, HDB's tenders can also score anchor-stall and stallholder-protection commitments, at the cost of some forgone tender rent (up to about $1.8M a year); in the roughly 400 privately owned coffeeshops and in mall food courts the partnership stays wholly voluntary. Where the landlord is private, the plan's support attaches to the hawker, never to the stall's rent.

Who pays

SELF-FINANCING · ASK OF GOVERNMENT · BUILDS ON

What it builds on

HDB's January 2026 coffeeshop revision: voluntary budget meals with a pass-through rent discount, six-year rent holds on new tenders and stall-rent data collection (§2.4, Hawkers and Social Protection, C.7).

Who gains

Diners: The kopitiam downstairs gets a queue-worthy anchor stall at a fair rent (§2.4).
Hawkers: Because the whole shop gets relief cover, the breakfast auntie two stalls down benefits too (§2.4).
Landlords: Footfall from certified heritage anchors, Corps services for their tenants, public recognition – all voluntary (§1.4).

Model scores

Scored by the Follow the Plate model. How the scores work is in Follow the Plate, D.7. Cash and savings are shown separately. “Per programme dollar” is the household gain for each dollar the programme spends.

Heritage Anchor stall (§2.4): One anchor stall at a Band-B-equivalent $1,150; the landlord forgoes the difference
Amounts a year	Per tendered NEA stall (HDB-rented coffeeshop)	National, at 0% take-up (0 stalls)
Programme cost	$18,900	$0
Net public cost	$16,522	$0
Hawker household: cash	$23,261	$0
Hawker household: savings and other gains	$1,361	$0
Diners	$0	$0
Per programme dollar: all gains	$1.30	–
Per programme dollar: cash	$1.23	–

Where the library discusses it

§2.4 · §2.1 · §3.4 · §4.3 · Hawkers and Social Protection, C.7 · Follow the Plate, D.8 · §7.7

Note: The model computes a Heritage Anchor case (one coffeeshop stall at $1,150) but Follow the Plate does not report it, and its national take-up is set to 0 in results.json. The model scores are included for completeness only. The chips are those of §2.4 as a whole; the ASK OF GOVERNMENT chip belongs to the HDB tender lever (hdb-tender-lever), the section's one ask.