THE Penang government is forced to be strict in dealing with the people’s public housing project (PPR) scheme in the state as there are not enough units to go around, said housing exco Jagdeep Singh Deo.

The state has the lowest number of government PPR units in the country.

Putrajaya confirmed in a parliamentary answer in May last year that out of the 102,118 PPR units nationwide, only 999 were in Penang.

The units available are not enough to house the 1,662 PPR applicants on the state’s waiting list.

Some 70% of the applicants are from Penang island’s northeast district.

“We have a shortage of PPR units. The only government PPR flat with vacant units is Desa Wawasan in Bukit Mertajam (on the mainland).

“With the stock that I have, it is a delicate situation for us,” Jagdeep told The Malaysian Insight.

‘Not pro-rakyat’ claims

Yesterday, the Pakatan Harapan state government came under fire when a group of Padang Tembak PPR flat residents staged a protest at Komtar after they were served eviction notices earlier this month.

Penang Parti Socialis Malaysia committee member R. Karthiges, who highlighted the residents’ plight, said five families had been served notices by the state’s housing enforcement unit.

One woman, a cleaner making minimum wage, was told to leave because she earned more than RM750 – the maximum individual income to qualify for a PPR unit.

Another is being evicted because her husband is a foreigner.

A youth was told to leave because he is single, and another was served a notice for being under the minimum age of 21.

Only one tenant was told to evict because her family owed rent.

Karthiges and the residents said the reasons given by the enforcement unit were unfair, and the conditions set by the state were not people-centric.

They demanded that the evictions be put on hold. They also want to meet Jagdeep to discuss their situation.

State ‘stalled long enough’

Jagdeep, who is aware of the Padang Tembak PPR case, said the state could look into the group’s appeal.

“If there are valid grounds, we will assist them.

“But, we must be firm to be fair to the many others, who also have families, on the waiting list for PPR units.”

He said state authorities had “stalled long enough”, to the extent that the auditor general, in a report, had criticised Penang for not acting against those were no longer eligible to stay in PPR units.

“In May last year, we were criticised in the report for not taking action. We had to address every ‘teguran’ (criticism) we received.

“So, we set up an enforcement committee on housing to look into the issues.”

Jagdeep said the state government was aware that some tenants were still in the low-income group.

“We have been assisting the people and looking into their difficulties in paying the rent they owed.

“We have looked at 327 cases and approved 277 of the appeals. As long as we find that the tenants are sincere and can pay slowly, we can approve their appeals.”

No abuse allowed

Jagdeep said it was a fact that some were abusing the PPR units by subletting them to foreigners.

He said action must be taken because the government could not allow foreigners to make use of the cheap housing meant for Malaysians.

“If it is allowed, the problem will never end. Foreign workers will all go for PPR units.”

He added that PPR tenants whose life conditions had improved must make way to others who needed the units.

The state sets a RM1,500 household income cap for eligible applicants for PPR units.

“If you can do better than that, you must make way to those who are not so fortunate,” said Jagdeep.

“Those still on the waiting list are our main concern.”

In a statement yesterday, he repeated calls for the federal government to build more PPR units in Penang.

Big picture

Jagdeep, who has been housing exco since 2013, said the state must look at the “big picture” in addressing PPR issues, and not tackle cases “in isolation”.

The “big picture” in Penang involves accumulated arrears of RM17 million due to unpaid PPR rental and maintenance fees since 1969.

“Since 2010, the Penang government has forked out more than RM30 million to maintain PPR flats because so many people have not been paying rent and maintenance fees.

“Even with the arrears, we are still assisting the people, going out of our way to help. You cannot generalise (based on one case).”

He said when he first took over the housing portfolio, the accumulated arrears amounted to RM14 million.

However, he said, the issue concerning rental and maintenance payments had improved in recent years, even though the accumulated arrears had increased by RM3 million.

“The rise in unpaid rental and maintenance fees year-on-year is slowing now because we have taken measures to educate the people on the importance of paying up.” – December 30, 2017.