GEORGE TOWN: The DAP-led state government has been taken to task for increasing the monthly household income ceiling for a person to be eligible to buy affordable houses.
Penang Gerakan Youth legal and public complaints bureau chief Jason Loo said the increase in the household income ceiling had made it more difficult for people to afford houses here, let alone, solve the problem of buyers.
“Many Penangites can ill-afford the state government’s affordable homes because the state has yet to tackle the most important problem, which is to reduce the prices for all categories of the affordable houses.
“The state government merely raises the monthly household income ceiling for the three categories of affordable homes. Such a move will not help the developers to sell the unsold units of their affordable houses,” he said at the state Gerakan headquarter.
Recently, state Housing Committee chairman Jagdeep Singh Deo announced that the monthly household income ceiling had been raised to RM8,000 per month for affordable houses costing RM200,000 (750 sq ft), RM10,000 for affordable houses costing RM300,000 (850 sq ft) and RM12,000 for affordable houses costing RM400,000 (900 sq ft).
He said the decision was made after taking into consideration the fact that the banking sector may view applicants as risky based on the previous household income ceiling, thus, the high loan rejection rate.
Previously, the monthly household income ceiling was RM6,000, RM8,000 and RM10,000 for RM200,000, RM300,000 and RM400,000 afordable houses respectively.
Loo said about 49 per cent of households in Penang would not be able to afford the affordable housing as they had a monthly household income of less than RM4,000.
“And, almost 80 per cent of the affordable houses introduced here are in the RM300,000 and RM400,000 category.”
Loo said the state government’s introduction of the RM150,000 category for affordable houses, with a minimum size of 750 sq ft, did not help either as they come without furnishing and car park bay.
“Take The Clovers project in Sungai Ara, Bayan Lepas for example. A purchaser who wishes to purchase a RM200,000 affordable house (699 sq ft) has to pay an additional RM50,000 for one car park bay and an extra RM20,000 to upgrade the floor to tiles.
“The same theory applies to the new RM150,000 category. Purchasers will have to pay at least RM220,000 or more to get the smallest affordable house. Purchasers may as well buy low medium cost housing at the price of RM72,500 and get a house of almost the same size.”
The Clovers (also known as Arasia Perdana) is a freehold residential development by Asia Green Group. It comprises three blocks of 42-storey condominiums with a total of 892 residential units, 180 units of which are categorised under affordable housing. The smallest affordable unit starts from 699 sq ft, with an indicative price from RM 200,000 onwards.
Loo said there were different prices fixed by different developers in Penang for the affordable housing.
“Since the state government launched affordable house schemes, Penangites have been confused by the changing guidelines.
“The state continuously blames Bank Negara, the Federal government and call themselves Robin Hood, who is supposed to help the poor people. But in actual fact, they are the ‘Developer Agent Party (DAP)’, who helps developers promote and sell their unaffordable houses.”
