Twelve-year wait for affordable housing

KUALA LUMPUR City Hall’s public housing (PA) and people’s housing projects (PPR) are worthy causes that indeed deserve more support and urgency.

There is a crying need to make housing for the poor a categorical imperative in our national drive for progress and development.

Deputy Federal Territories Minister Datuk Seri Dr Santhara Kumar was officiating at an event on Tuesday for the handing over of keys to B40 citizens, enabling them to finally have a roof over their heads.

As reported in the media, one recipient was R. Uma, 47, a single mother who had to struggle in life. She had to wait for more than 12 years to be chosen for the affordable housing unit.

At the handing over of offer letters to 20 recipients of the DBKL’s PA/PPR housing units, it was also made known that there were 30,000 applicants waiting for their humble abodes and only about 2,000 homes could be delivered as of now.

This is less than a 10% success rate in so far as housing the poor is concerned.

Now compare that with the statistics of unsold houses for the M40 and perhaps even the countless commercial premises still screaming “For Sale” on weather-beaten banners.

We need soul searching, a rewiring of political policy in order to get out of this quagmire of housing challenges faced by our nation.

Imagine wasting 12 long years of one’s life waiting to realise one’s dream of having a simple home built for the poor.

Then think of all those wasted, unoccupied homes, building spaces and even abandoned middle income housing projects that continue to dot the country.

If we can build Putrajaya, KLIA, KLCC and Langkawi with definitive speed and determination, is a twelve-year wait for the B40 really fair?

If only less than 10% of the applicants can get their keys, how long more is it going to take to house the ever increasing number of B40 citizens?

J. D. Lovrenciear

Kuala Lumpur