 An HDB paper estimated that in 1966, 300,000 people lived in squatter settlements in the suburbs and 250,000 lived in squalid shophouses in the Central Area.In 1959, in its election campaign, the People's Action Party (PAP) recognised that housing required urgent attention and pledged that it would provide low-cost housing for the poor if it was elected.When it won the elections and formed the new government, it took immediate action to solve the housing shortage.