In what follows I would like to address the conceptual gap between the housing providing state and the apartment owning residents. My thesis is that for an understanding of the todays ventilation practice in Singapore’s HDB settlements this conceptual gap between the state and the resident-owners is crucial. By the privatization of the apartments, HDB gave over the responsibility for large parts of the energy supply to the residents. Since almost 50 years, the state promotes natural ventilation in social housing, but the inhabitants use increasingly air-conditioning, today around 80%. The gap in Singapore’s housing policy generates design-wise "wicked problems" – problems, which are increasingly difficult to solve by planners and architects.