The Singapore Improvement Trust (SIT) was formed by the British in 1927. It was originally tasked with building homes only for those displaced by the various development and improvement schemes implemented by the government. It was not till 1932 that the SIT embarked on public housing projects to address the acute housing shortage problem. The first batch of SIT flats were constructed in Tiong Bahru. They are about three to five storeys in height and can still be seen in parts of Tiong Bahru today. The SIT was dissolved in 1959 and succeeded by the Housing and Development Board (HDB) .
