Jetsbest:
The thing about Singapore is a lot of the housing market (90%) is only accessible to locals. Locals can get subsidised housing, use their superannuation to buy their homes, get up to S$40k in government grants to buy a home etc.
Th remaining 10% of the housing market that is accessible to foreigners are very short in supply and highly speculative.
Locals also get subsidised healthcare and virtually free education.
Foreigners who are not PRs have no access to the local housing market and have to pay absurd levels for rent. $3k to $6k a month for an apartment in rental is probably the going rate these days.
If any Jetstar Australia pilot is getting a deal in Singapore with no housing provided for them, I would say they are then getting a very bad deal. And I say this as a Singaporean too.
It's only as a Singapore citizen or
PR that you can tap onto the various structures the government has put in place to enable you to enjoy the low tax, health care and provident fund (superannuation) they have put in place. As a foreigner, you basically only get to enjoy the low tax part, but without access to the local housing market, you're pretty screwed really.
I guess the Singapore government put such structures in place to ensure that employers try and fill skilled vacancies with Singaporeans first, and then if they cannot find Singaporeans to do the job, they can then pay a premium for a foreigner to do it (the premium being the housing allowance). This is of course natural for any government, to ensure its citizens get employed as a priority.
Since most Singaporean pilots are employed by the SIA Group of Airlines or associated airlines, the number of Singapore citizens or PRs left for Jetstar's SIN base would be very, very limited I would think.
Most Australians I know in Singapore who are on local packages are married to Singaporean wives and have
PR and thus have access to the local housing market and schools for their kids. If you don't have
PR and/or a Singaporean spouse, again, I think you're pretty much screwed.