THE government’s promise to provide affordable houses in Malaysia must be done in a holistic and comprehensive manner so that it does not only cater to the physical need of housing but also include neighbourliness and inclusiveness.

A reset of how the government approach housing as a whole – be it for the low income group, youth, first time buyers or those who have money to invest in more than one property – will help the nation to achieve its newly minted Vision 2025.

History have shown that flooding the market with affordable houses or making housing loan easy to be obtained has made Malaysia susceptible to economic hardship.

It was during Tun Dr Mahathir’s first tenure as prime minister that numeral institutions were established to save housing projects which cannot be completed and streamlined.

Pengurusan Danaharta Nasional Berhad, Tabung Perumahan Projek Terbengkalai Sdn Bhd (under Bank Negara Malaysia) and Syarikat Perumahan Negara Berhad were those institutions.

Only Syarikat Perumahan Negara Berhad with its Rumah Mesra Rakyat dan Rumah Mampu Milik is still in existence as a reminder to that particular period.

Here are a few suggestions for a holistic approach in housing the nation:

1. Control and demonopolise the cost of building a house. It is well known that raw materials such as sand, cement, labour and steel are monopolised by a select few. The cartels that control these materials must be broken up and smaller companies must be allowed for healthy competition to set in as the norm.

2. Work with board of valuers and real estate agents to see whether there are completed houses already on offer to be bought and lived in at high density area before new projects are approved. Local councils need to give feedback whether more residential or other type of property need to to be built in that area.

3. A National Housing Council need to be set up consisting of all states in Malaysia to advise on the situation of housing needs in all the states in Malaysia. The model of National Land Council already in existence should be the best way to go. It should chart the public housing policy together with private housing developments in Malaysia.

4. New technology to help buying and selling of property should be encouraged. Fintech and Proptech are two of the fastest growing start-up businesses around the world. With the advent of virtual reality, imagine buying a house by seeing the inside of the house way before it was built. Linking banks with the property developer’s data and vice versa will help buyers of new houses being approved faster than ever.

5. Make it compulsory for a social worker from the Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development to be a part of a Joint Management Committee or Management Corporations of public housings. They need to give input on the needs of the communities with regards to children, people with special needs and families inhibiting the society in a housing projects.

6. Sponsor property gurus or people with knowledge on housing law to hold classes teaching how to be a part of strata or gated and guarded communities with regards to living in a stratified development. They must also teach how to be tolerable towards neighbours and not just be confrontational by bringing them to court of law. As lands are getting scarce, strata living will be the norm but people like to keep to themselves and not be friendly neighbours resulting in bad living conditions.

7. Standardised the housing price in Malaysia especially affordable units. The median price for affordable houses are different for units in Kuala Lumpur and Selangor which coexist within the same border. Currently, affordable houses are upwards of RM500,000, making them unaffordable to most Malaysians. This has to be aligned with the current Malaysia’s household income and starting salary of the youth.

8. Encouraging developers to create rent-to-own schemes. The scheme must be done with input from local councils to ensure its relevance in that particular area and who can apply for it.

9. Using tax as deterrence or incentive for developers and buyers. Land-banking should be discouraged by taxing developers holding lands for housing projects. Buyers should be encouraged to buy starter homes with stamp duty exemptions for certain types of houses at certain prices which have been done before.

10. Lowering the requirements of housing loans must stop as history has shown it is one of the factor for an economic downturn when borrowers cannot repay the loan. Banks should keep to the basic requirements when approving loans by adding guarantors and other financial support using second or third income.

11. Disclose National Property Information Centre (Napic) data for the public so that they can make an informed decision when they buy a house. Strengthen Napic to allow it to be a central depository for all type of properties including shopping malls, Malay reserved land, bumiputera quota properties and residential units built on commercial land with brand name such as Soho and Sovo.

12. Standardised a release mechanism and proper rulings on bumiputera quota houses for the whole of Malaysia. The current rules differ from state to state and it has been disputed many times depending on the housing needs but a standard must be set for better transparency.

13. Enact a Tenancy Act to settle disputes on tenancy matters in Malaysia either for residential properties or commercial properties. It shall also make it easy for local authorities to rent out residential properties as council houses. – June 12, 2018.

* Khairul Anuar Shaharudin reads The Malaysian Insight.

* This is the opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insight.