BESIDES building centralised labour quarters for foreign workers, employers are looking for alternatives such as budget hotels that have lost income because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Employers are moving to fulfil the Human Resources Ministry’s requirements for improved worker accommodation, in line with the Employees’ Minimum Standards of Housing, Accommodation and Amenities Act 1990 (Act 446).

The government expanded the law during the Covid-19 pandemic, when virus outbreaks spread rapidly among foreign workers, to apply to all sectors. Previously, the law only applied to workers in the plantation and mining sectors.

Cheras Hong Soon Land Sdn Bhd managing director Yap Keow Keong suggested renting budget hotels, which are readily found all over the country, to house workers.

“We are currently negotiating with several budget hotels to rent their whole premises to place our foreign workers,” the property developer told The Malaysian Insight.

Budget hotels are feasible housing for construction workers, as the sector is more mobile, unlike other industries, Yap said.

“Hotels, restaurants, plantations and the manufacturing sector also depend highly on foreign workers. But their workplaces are more permanent in nature, unlike the construction sector, which workplaces move from place to place,” he said.

Yap said most construction companies want workers to live close to the project site to reduce travelilng time. As such, the common practice is to erect temporary living quarters on site. Sometimes, these makeshift housing is unsanitary, cramped, and without facilities.

Old shipping containers are often used and they were found inadequate during the Covid-19 pandemic as many foreign workers became infected due to the unhygienic and packed living arrangements. 

Many construction sites had to be closed during the Covid-19 lockdowns in 2020 and 2021 when virus clusters emerged at the workplaces.

Yap was speaking on how businesses were preparing foreign worker housing to comply with Act 446 by the end of this year.

Amendments to the law to cover all work sectors came into force in September 2020 but enforcement was delayed when employers said they were unprepared and struggling for funds.

Now, employers are also expected to inform the authorities whether they have proper workers’ housing when they apply to hire new foreign workers.

For the construction sector, Yap said most jobs have a timeline of between three to five years and once the work is completed, workers move on to different places.

As such, he said it does not make sense for the sector to place their foreign workers in permanent housing far away from their sites. 

He said the budget hotel “arrangement” made more sense, as they can also sub-contract the cleaning and maintenance services to the hotel.

“This is a win-win situation for us and the hotels. Many of the hotels, big and small, have had to close down because they had low or zero occupancy during Covid-19 lockdowns.

“And while the economy has reopened, not all of them have recovered to pre-pandemic levels as foreign tourist arrivals are still low and local tourists still wary.”

According to previous reports, more than 30% of the hotels have had to close due to low occupancy during the Covid-19 lockdowns between 2020-2021. On top of that, the Malaysian Hotels Association’s June 2021 survey said that most hotels were anticipating an average occupancy rate of just 21%-28% for the second half of 2021 and 35% for 2022. 

Yap’s development company will begin building a 690-unit condominium near Batu Caves in Gombak in September.

“With around 600 workers, we will have to find the nearby budget hotels to house them. And we believe this is a better alternative as they will be able to live two to a room while cleaning services will be provided by the hotel.

“After the work is completed, we can also help the hotels refurbish if necessary,” said Yap. 

Segambut MP Hannah Yeoh said the government should have more frequent meetings with  industry to flesh out ideas.

“If they listen to their needs and do some matchmaking, we can reach win-win situations like this housing for foreign workers and hotels suffering from low occupancy.”

She added that the government also needs to reduce bureaucracy to allow the economy to recover. – May 27, 2022.