Minister: Govt spent RM13 billion to help people own home

Urban Wellbeing, Housing and Local Government Minister Noh Omar says low-income group given due attention through various schemes but hopes BNM will relax rules.

SUBANG: The government has spent almost RM13 billion to help the people to own their own homes and resolve housing issues, says Urban Wellbeing, Housing and Local Government Minister Noh Omar.

He said this was done through several initiatives, including the 1Malaysia Civil Servants Housing Project (PPA1M) and the 1Malaysia People’s Housing Programme (PR1MA).

The minister said the needs of B40 and M40 income groups were also given due attention when the government introduced, among others, rent-to-own scheme, MyHome, and MyDeposit scheme.

“Credit and thanks are due to our Prime Minister Najib Razak for his tireless commitment in continuously offering creative solutions to improve the housing issues for the Malaysians,” he said when opening the 20th National Housing and Property Summit 2017 here today.

On another note, he said, the private sector needs to continue building affordable housing projects to assist the people.

Noh said the government had proposed to Bank Negara Malaysia to relax the terms and conditions for housing loan applications for first-time buyers, especially those from the B40 income group.

He said it was part of various solutions to assist those with monthly household income of less than RM3,800 as they experienced difficulty in obtaining a loan even for a property worth RM35,000.

“We (the ministry) suggested that the central bank take it into consideration, and their representatives were open to the idea.

“However, I do understand that the central bank has to take into consideration the ability of the applicants to pay back,” he said.

The two-day event organised by the Asian Strategy & Leadership Institute (Asli), which began yesterday, will take stock of challenges and opportunities facing the industry, and also review the emerging trends and the state of the economy which will impact the property sector.

In another development, the minister said the Selangor government and its Petaling Land and District Office should have been more considerate, especially before deciding to demolish the structure on the state government-owned land adjacent to the Sultan Abdul Aziz Airport in Subang, as it involved two houses occupied by two families.

He said that it was only right if the two families were offered new places to stay before their homes were demolished and that if the state government could not afford to do so, the ministry was prepared to provide two units of the Lembah Subang People’s Housing Project (PPR) flats for the families.

“I was shocked to learn that their houses had been demolished even before the occupants were able to find a new home,” he said in response to the demolishing of three houses and two shops in the compound of a mosque adjacent to the airport yesterday.

Nine men, comprising residents and activists from Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM), were detained for obstructing the demolishing work. -FMT