Lively Places Fund and Challenge

Lively Places Fund

The Lively Places Fund encourages residents to initiate community-driven place-making projects that will help develop more vibrant and bonded communities.

Get inspired by completed projects [PDF/7.46 MB] or find out more about the fund via Lively Places Fund Guidebook [PDF/21.2 MB] and in the segments below.

Interested to start a project? Fill in this application form to submit your interest.

Eligibility criteria

Who can apply?

  • The Fund is open to all Singapore Citizens and permanent residents
  • Interested person(s) can sign up either as an individual or a team, with at least one applicant above 17 years old

  • Existing projects which are receiving other forms of funding from other agencies are not eligible for the Fund. For new projects, co-funding can be considered if the project meets the objectives of all agencies

  • Applicants whom have been awarded the fund previously would have to complete the project before they can apply for the Fund again
  • The Fund does not support projects that duplicate any existing programmes
  • The Fund does not support projects or studies undertaken prior to the funding approval
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Fund categories

What projects can be supported?

Projects that activate public spaces and streets to bring residents and stakeholders together, foster stronger bonds and promote a stronger sense of community.

Category Award Sum Description
Project Fund Up to $5,000

This is for smaller, short-term action plans or activities to bond neighbours in HDB neighbourhoods.  

Some examples include block parties, anti littering campaign and community recycling day.
Building Fund

Up to $5,000

This is for projects that will involve a physical transformation of existing public spaces, with an implementation period of 6 months or less.

Some examples include community arts projects and short term pop-up installations to activate spaces.

Up to $20,000

This is for projects that will involve a physical transformation of existing public spaces, with an implementation period of more than 6 months.

Some examples include the conversion of void decks into community living room and community cafes as well as longer term pop-up installations to activate spaces.
Multi-storey Car Park (MSCP) Rooftop Gardening

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HDB will implement the project upon approval, so there is no award sum offered.

 This is for projects that will involve a conversion of underutilised MSCP roof decks into community/allotment gardens using HDB’s Prefabricated Extensive Green (PEG) Roof Tray System.

Applications are open biannually from March to April and September to October.
Street Closure -

This is for short term projects that transform streets into active public spaces for the community.

The support provided will only be for road closure essentials consisting of safety barriers, signage and security personnel.
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Fund criteria

How can I qualify for the funding?

All proposals will be reviewed based on the following criteria: 

Criteria Description
Fund objective
  • The proposal brings communities together through activating and creating delightful public spaces
  • The proposal has clear objectives and demonstrates concrete steps to achieve its objectives
  • Commercial events are not supported
Level of neighbourhood involvement
  • The proposal must emphasise self-help, with project ideas initiated, planned, implemented and maintained by community members and stakeholders.
  • The applicant(s) must engage the community / stakeholders that will be impacted by their proposal.
  • The proposal is accessible by all members of the public.
Level of community match
  • The applicants must be able to generate enough community match of at least 30% of the amount of fund applied for
  • The match can be in the form of volunteering hours, professional servies, equipment or other materials or supplies such as food, tools, or furniture
  • For ease of implementation, we will value volunteering time at $25 per hour and professional services relevant to the project (e.g. software and app designers, project manager, etc) at $80 per hour
  • All donated materials and supplies (food, tools, etc) can be valued at their retail prices. Borrowed equipment can also be considered as part of the match, valued at a standard rental fee
  • The match cannot be funds sourced from other agencies
  • A detailed project budget and documentation of the community match, including fund raising plan, if applicable, shall be submitted at the stage of application
  • A log sheet documenting all the contributions made by the community will also have to be submitted at the end of the project
Outcomes
  • The team shall indicate the specific outcomes, both tangible and/or intangible results, that they are targeting to achieve; and how they will measure the project success
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Fund

What are the eligible expenses?

  • Teams are not allowed to spend more than:
  1. 20% of the approved funds on prizes, cash vouchers and/or meals;
  2. 25% of the approved funds on manpower cost. (For Project Fund only)
  • The funding cannot be used for the following: 
  1. Any overseas project
  2. Hiring/ outsourcing the activities fully or partially to events companies 
  3. Event t-shirts
  4. Out-of-city travel expenses, or any lodging/hotel expenses, private transportation expenses including mileage, car rentals, etc
  • Disbursement is on a reimbursement basis and must be accompanied by corresponding receipts for supported items not later than 2 months after the completion of the project.
  • At completion, claims would only be processed after the submission of the log sheet documenting the level of community match which includes but is not limited to entries such as number of volunteer hours, contribution of equipment or other materials or supplies such as food, tools or furniture, including fund raising plan, if applicable.
  • For Street Closure projects, the above does not apply as support is only limited to the provision of road closure essentials.
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Lively Places Challenge

The HDB Lively Places Challenge aims to empower the community to propose and implement ground-up projects to solve community issues and create friendly and lively neighbourhoods.

As a participant, you and your team will be guided by a Learn, Engage, and Implement process to develop ideas for your preferred project sites.

Learn

  • Acquire tools, methods and best practices on organising sustainable community-centric projects
  • Pick up tips on how to engage your target audience and galvanise support for your projects

Engage

  • Visit your project sites to engage relevant stakeholders, harness their perspectives to refine your ideas and garner support for your proposals

Implement

  • Unleash your creativity and implement community projects with funding of up to $20,000 from HDB via the Lively Places Fund.

Representatives from relevant agencies will be invited to provide guidance on your proposals.

Lively Places Challenge 2026

Learn more about the latest edition of the challenge.

This year, we are seeking not-for-profit proposals that can:

  1. Enable seniors to age well
  2. Promote environmental sustainability through green initiatives
  3. Strengthen bonds between neighbours and foster community spirit amongst residents (e.g. youth groups, young working adults, families with children)
  4. Promote positive social norms and community ownership 

All proposals should be located within common spaces (e.g. void decks, precinct green, roof gardens, etc.) of HDB developments in the following towns and estates:

  • Bidadari
  • Bukit Batok
  • Clementi
  • Geylang
  • Hougang
  • Kallang/ Whampoa
  • Marine Parade
  • Pasir Ris
  • Serangoon
  • Tengah
  • Woodlands
Key milestones

Lively Places Challenge 2026 Process

Judging criteria and prizes

Projects that are fully implemented by 30 September 2026 will qualify to be evaluated for the winning prizes.

Completed projects will be assessed based on the following criteria:

  • Demonstrate efforts to engage residents and stakeholders, and incorporate their feedback into the project (30%)
  • Quality and quantity of community match/ contributions made or garnered by the team, in terms of volunteering hours and/ or other resources (30%)
  • Benefits to the community and the potential for them to be sustained over time (30%)
  • Appeal and clarity of the materials presented for judging (10%)

Projects will be evaluated based on 2 categories, with the following prizes:

Category Prizes*
  1. Projects that involve physical improvement works
  • Top 3 winning teams will receive $2,500 per team
  • 2 other teams will stand to win a merit prize of $1,500 per team             
  1. Projects that are event-based
  • Top 3 winning teams will receive $2,000 per team
  • 2 other teams will stand to win a merit prize of $1,000 per team

*The jury reserves the right not to award prizes, depending on the quality of submissions received. In the event the jury does not award any prizes, HDB has the right to use the prize money for other purposes. The decision of the jury shall be final.

All other participating teams will be given a token sum of $200 per team and a certificate of achievement.

How to participate

Registration for the HDB Lively Places Challenge 2026 is now closed.

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