AFFORDABLE HOUSES TO CALL HOME
LEGAL officer Zaihana Ahmad used to rent a house for RM500 a month in Taman Daya before her application for affordable housing was approved.
The 47-year-old along with her family are now living happily in their three-room home in Setia Tropika.
She said that she never gave up on her efforts to apply for an affordable home.
Zaihana is among the thousands of people who have benefited from the state’s plan of building affordable homes since 2013.
The Johor Barisan Nasional election manifesto for GE14 has outlined almost 230 pledges and one of the state government’s main agenda is to ensure locals have access to proper housing here.
Among their aims is to build at least 100,000 affordable houses in the next five years.
They also plan to expand the rent-to-own housing schemes for households earning less than RM3,000 a month.
“All this is in line with the needs of the Suara Hati Johor initiative whereby more than 18,000 affordable housing units have been completed and handed over since 2013,” Johor Mentri Besar Datuk Mohamed Khaled Nordin said.
(Suara Hati Johor is the state’s seven-point plan launched in 2014 to look into the people’s specific needs).
“I am confident that the target of 100,000 affordable homes could be hit with the cooperation of all parties by 2023,” Mohamed Khaled said.
Presently, there are more than 113,000 people who have applied for public housing online via the State Secretariat for Housing (SUK Perumahan) website.
Mohamed Khaled added that besides developers, governmentlinked companies were also roped in to build affordable homes such as Perbadanan Islam Johor and Kumpulan Prasarana Rakyat Johor Sdn Bhd (KPRJ)
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.
He 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 low-cost housing for the poor, Mohamed Khaled said that 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 available for the poor.
Mohamed Khaled added that the state government was always concerned about meeting the housing needs of every segment of society.
“We are aware of the needs for more housing for people in the M40 bracket who were not eligible for RMMJ homes.
“There is a need for houses priced between RM300,000 and RM500,000 in Johor.
“We are talking to stakeholders including the Johor Real Estate and Housing Developers Association (Redha) on how to get developers to build more of such homes,” he added.
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 middle-income groups were not left out of the property boom, especially in Iskandar Malaysia, Mohamed Khaled said.
“We also have good relations with the Federal Government and other agencies, which enable us to coordinate and plan our projects,” he added.
This is in line with the needs of the Suara Hati Johor initiative whereby more than 18,000 units have been handed over since 2013.
Datuk Mohamed Khaled Nordin