KUCHING, Sept 24: The Federal government announced today that the moratorium on rent payments for existing People’s Housing Project (PPR) residents under the supervision and management of the Housing and Local Government Ministry (KPKT) will be extended until the end of 2022.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob emphasised that this measure would benefit about 10,000 households or 50,000 PPR residents, involving a financial implication of RM18.84 million for the government.
“This is one piece of good news that I want to announce, especially for existing residents in PPR areas, as the government will not sideline their welfare.
“This is part of our efforts and initiatives for ‘Keluarga Malaysia’ who need assistance,” he said when launching the Keluarga Malaysia Home or Keluarga Malaysia Ikram Home initiative in Kuala Lumpur today.
Elaborating on the Keluarga Malaysia housing initiative, Ismail Sabri announced that the number of housing units under the project will be doubled to 2,000 from the initial 1,000 to benefit at least 10,000 needy households.
He noted that as a start, 1,000 units of Ikram homes are being made available in PPR areas in Kuala Lumpur, Selangor, Kedah, Kelantan and Johor at a minimum monthly rent of RM124 for a maximum two-year period.
“I understand that 1,000 units in 11 PPR areas are insufficient to provide shelter for Keluarga Malaysia who have been impacted due to the loss of income. This is because 139 other PPR projects have been handed over to local authorities of other states.
“To ease the stress and burden on recipients of Ikram Home, they would enjoy rental exemption of up to six months beginning from the date of handing over of keys for their units,” he announced.
The rental waiver, he said, will be borne by the government, involving an allocation of more than RM3 million.
Rumah Ikram will provide shelter for those who have lost their sources of income or whose incomes have been affected by the Covid-19 pandemic to the extent of being unable to pay high rental rates for houses, he added.
Ismail Sabri emphasised that the housing agenda will continue to become the main focus of the government, especially to provide affordable housing for Keluarga Malaysia.
“Affordable housing programmes such as PPR, PR1MA Housing and Malaysian Civil Servants’ Housing (PPAM) would continue to be strengthened and improved to ensure that the people would have a roof over their heads.
“I am confident that KPKT would undertake more strategic planning and implementation of housing programmes so that they will not only be built in a short period but remain affordable to Malaysians,” he said.
He added that this is in line with the Liveable Malaysia agenda to help the vulnerable groups as well as the younger generation wishing to own comfortable and quality housing.
“The details of this will be announced when tabling the 12th Malaysia Plan as well as Budget 2022 soon,” he assured. — DayakDaily
