Unsuccessful Penang PPR applicants used wrong channel: Zuraida

Housing and Local Government Minister Zuraida Kamaruddin said today that those who felt discriminated and marginalised for not obtaining low-cost housing (known by its Malay acronym "PPR") units lacked the right application guidelines.

Speaking to reporters after her working visit to a government low-cost housing project in Permatang Tok Suboh in Bukit Mertajam, Zuraida said these applicants who failed to secure units had applied via the Penang Regional Development Authority (Perda), a federal agency.

"No wonder the state government did not receive their applications. No wonder the state housing executive councillor (Jagdeep Singh Deo) was not aware that they had applied for the units," Zuraida said.

"So to be fair to this group of people, we met with them and told them to fill in fresh forms again so we can consider their applications for the remaining PPR units," she added.

The minister meeting with those who had failed to secure a PPR unit.

Earlier, Zuraida handed over 20 offer letters to successful applicants of the PPR units. Present were Jagdeep and PKR Machang Bubok assemblyperson Lee Khai Loon.

While 80 applicants were successful in obtaining the units, applications for 121 of the 231 units in the project are still pending before the state Local Housing Committee, which is chaired by Jagdeep.

Zuraida today also met with several disgruntled applicants for the PPR units representing some 42 people who complained of being marginalised by the Penang government as they did not receive any units since 2017.

Lee said the unhappy applicants were somehow misled by certain quarters and their application documents were incomplete and did not reach the right authority, which is the state Local Housing Committee.

"They were not given the proper forms to fill and they were not asked to submit supporting documents. All this happened during the run-up to GE14 in 2018," Lee told Malaysiakini.

The successful applicants.

"The applicants said they were approached by a prominent party leader (now in the opposition) to apply but it all seems like an election ploy," Lee added.

He assured the group that their applications for the PPR unit would now go through the proper channel and would be vetted by the state housing authority according to their eligibility.

"We always give priority to the poor, those who were evicted or who had lost their homes due to massive floods. Single mothers, too, will be given priority to own PPR units," he said.

Completed in 2017, the Permatang Tok Suboh PPR project is hailed as one of the state's successful efforts to provide public housing especially for the poor.

The single-storey units are well built and those who obtained their units are allowed to participate in a "rent to purchase" scheme, where they pay RM200 monthly until they eventually own the units. - Mkini