IMO the ethnic quotas would be the most unsavory aspects to an American audience.
The safety of HDBs, apart from reflecting Singapore's low crime rate in general, also reflects Singapore not having the idea that high rise government housing projects are somewhere only the poor and desperate would want to live and their condition a reflection of Singapore not having the belief that government budgets are things to be slashed....
Neoconservatism is a hell of a drug.
Wouldn't matter for the areas that could actually use more housing (dense urban ares), but there is an extremely strong anti-government streak in the U.S.