Providing shelter
04/06/2007 NST EDITORIAL

A ROOF over one’s head is much more than just a basic human need. A home is a physical as well as an emotional shelter and the heart of family life.

A house is a social good which denotes a person’s stake in society. This is what drives many people to own houses, and not just to live in them. However, while all humans seek shelter and aspire to the social standing that home-ownership represents, not all have the means to satisfy their needs. Many city-dwellers find themselves priced out of the ever-rising urban property market. Those who cannot afford to buy, rent. Some are reduced to squatting on the fringes of urban centres or to residing in squalid inner-city slums. Much of the centres of cities and their affluent suburbs have developed into enclaves for the rich and privileged. This is why the provision of adequate and affordable housing for low-income groups has become so much a part and parcel of any poverty alleviation programme.

Cheap housing for the masses has been a sustained national priority in this country. Every year, the government sets aside a substantial sum from the annual budget to build affordable houses for the low-income groups. However, despite the many public and private housing programmes for the poor, there is still a gap between demand and the availability of low-cost housing in this country. Cheap housing remains out of reach of many Malaysians. The cabinet decision to allow the 15,000 three-bedroom units which have been built under the Public Housing Project to be sold at the new price of RM35,000 each should make more cheap housing available to those who need them in Kuala Lumpur. The announcement by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi that more units will be completed in the national capital by the end of the year and that other local authorities will soon be presenting their own plans under the project is an indication that the government is aware that government agencies have a pivotal role to play in building affordable houses. It is the social responsibility of the government to provide shelter for all.

But as the persistent problem of unsold low-cost units suggests, there is more to making low-cost housing affordable than just making more available. There is a need to help those who qualify for low-cost housing but who cannot raise the money by way of easier terms of financing or rent-and-purchase schemes.