SHAH ALAM (Nov 3): The Selangor government rejected 8,770 out of 17,546 applications received for affordable housing under the Rumah Selangorku programme since it was introduced in 2012, Bernama reported today.

State Housing, Building and Urban Settler Management Committee chairman Datuk Iskandar Abdul Samad (PAS-Cempaka) said the applications were rejected to abide by the strict conditions imposed by financial institutions.

"Applications were rejected as applicants were unable to pay or have issues with their credit card payment, in addition to being blacklisted by the National Higher Education Fund Corp.

"However, we have asked for financial institutions to ease the conditions imposed to enable the applicants to be given an opportunity to own a home through this programme," Iskandar explained at the State Legislative Assembly here today, Bernama reported.

He was responding to a question from Datuk Halimaton Saadiah Bohan (BN-Kota Damansara) about applicants for the Rumah Selangorku programme who failed to get loans for home purchases and the state’s efforts to help these people.

Iskandar said the state government has also asked Bank Negara Malaysia to study the issue for a more comprehensive solution.

He said Selangor was also rolling out three schemes to ease the purchase of affordable homes: Dana-Sel, Smart Rent and Smart Selangor Home Buyer programmes, Bernama reported.