Push for affordable housing
Public housing is at the top of the Johor government’s agenda and it is confident that at least 60,000 houses will be built in the next four years.
Housing and local Government committee chairman Datuk Md Jais Sarday said since 2014, some 16,010 units had been built statewide and the keys handed over.
“i am confident that we will be able to hit our target by 2020 with cooperation from all parties, especially developers,” he said.
Presently, there are 113,000 people who have applied for public housing online via the State Secretariat for Housing (SuK Perumahan) website.
He added that besides developers, governmentlinked companies were also building at least 6,072 houses.
Among the popular units under the Johor affordable housing scheme (RMMJ) are the RM150,000 units, which are 1,000 sq ft in size.
There are two other types of affordable homes: Perumahan Komuniti Johor Type A and Type b, which cost RM40,000 and RM80,000 respectively.
Md Jais noted that besides housing for the people, the state was also collaborating with the Federal Government to provide at least 12,000 homes for civil servants priced between RM200,000 and RM350,000.
“These are houses for those who are eligible for government housing loans. We have built at least 3,000 units and expect to complete the balance in the near future,” he added.
On lowcost housing for the poor, he said at least seven new projects had been completed, with eight other projects scheduled to be completed by June next year.
Overall, a total of 4,747 units will be avail able for the poor.
“besides the usual rental schemes, some of the units will also be offered under the renttoown schemes for those who are eligible,” Md Jais added.
He said the state was also in talks with the Johor Real Estate and Housing Developers Association (Redha) on how to get developers to build more homes for people in the M40 bracket who were not eligible for RMMJ homes.
Most of the demand for public housing was mainly in Johor baru, batu Pahat and Kluang.
Since the task force for housing was formed in 2014, the state has a comprehensive plan and direction to ensure that those in the lower and middleincome groups were not left out of the property boom, especially in iskandar Malaysia, Md Jais said.
“We also have good relations with the Federal Government and other agencies, which enable us to coordinate and plan our projects,” he added.
I am confident that we will be able to hit our target by 2020 with cooperation from all parties, especially developers. Datuk Md Jais Sarday