Low-cost housing policy in Selangor to be tabled

SHAH ALAM: The Selangor government will table a draft of its new policy for low-cost homes for the approval of the state executive council (exco) next month, following discussions and feedback from stakeholders.

Housing, Building Management and Squatters state executive councillor Iskandar Samad said the state held a dialogue with developers’ associations, professional bodies, NGOs, governmental departments and agencies, local councils, state-linked companies, state assembly members and political parties on the policy on Tuesday.

“The Selangor Housing and Property Board had briefed the various stakeholders. There were constructive views on the policy,” he said at a press conference after the exco meeting yesterday.

“The draft policy, together with the views, will be tabled at the state exco meeting in one month,” he added.

Iskandar said upon approval by the exco, the policy will be enforced early next year. The draft policy aims to increase affordable housing in the state.

It will replace the current ratio of 20:20:10 of low-cost homes prescribed to developers for developments on more than 10 acres (4.05ha) of land.

Developers with projects on more than 10 acres of land are currently required to build 20% of low cost homes for a price set at RM42,000, 20% of low-medium cost housing at RM72,000 and 10% of medium cost housing at RM100,000.

Under the draft policy, the affordable homes will be increased to more than three categories and the sale prices will be set between RM42,000 to RM250,000.

The percentage of housing categories will also vary according to districts and other areas.

“This ensures that in the future, there will be no unsold houses due to lack of demand,” said Iskandar.

“It also provides many choices for those who want to buy affordable homes,” he added.

The new policy applies to households with up to RM8,000 in income.

It was reported that under the BN state government previously, the price of affordable housing was set at RM42,000 for the Klang Valley, RM35,000 for district council areas and RM30,000 for those outside these areas.

BN state assemblymen had criticised the new policy, saying low-income households may be burdened by the policy as they would not be able to afford the homes.

Sungai Panjang assemblyman from BN, Budiman Mohd Zohdi, had reportedly said this was because the state would not be able control the price of affordable homes.

He said the policy will be implemented on the basis of ‘willing buyer, willing seller’ which would cause the price of homes to be determined by market forces.


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This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on September 05, 2013.