Penang has the highest number of affordable housing: DAP

GEORGE TOWN: Critics of the state housing policy should consider that Penang now has the highest number of affordable housing projects either completed or pending, compared to pre-2008, according to state housing committee chairperson and DAP assemblyman, Jagdeep Singh Deo.
Jagdeep said that an analysis report which mentioned that property prices in Penang had risen due to the higher processing costs placed on developers by the local authorities, had overlooked the fact that the high administrative costs involved in gaining approval has not affected the developers' ability to construct more affordable units.
Therefore, the report authored by Isham Jalil, who is a Harvard and Wharton trained political economist, was seen as slanted, said Jagdeep.
He agreed that to some degree, there were properties on the island, which were priced beyond the reach of the local populace, but there were still many affordable housing schemes available for mid-range buyers here to choose.
To substantiate his point, Jagdeep pointed out the state had in fact constructed 24,000 low-cost (LC) and low-medium cost (LMC) units, since taking over in 2008 til now.
This is in stark contrast with the merely 5,100 units of affordable housing built by the previous administration from 1999 to 2007.
"We have outperformed them by building five times more," said Jagdeep.
For now, 17,000 units of various types in which prices range from RM42,000 to RM300,000 are currently being built across the state.
Apart from this, there are still 32,000 units that have been approved and are yet to be built.
Overall, all these figures when added together will bring the total to more than 70,000 affordable units under the leadership of the current state government.
"This is the stock of affordable housing for prices of not more than RM300,000 that we have here. We have performed the best in providing affordable housing among all the states in the country," said Jagdeep.
In the guidelines, he said a lot of incentives were given to developers who wanted to build the affordable units.
"Don't simply make one general statement and make it look like all properties in Penang are expensive," he said during a press conference.
Isham, who is also a special officer to the Prime Minister, had stated that there had been a significant increase in property tax revenues collected by the Penang and Selangor governments, as home buyers are supposedly taxed at about 10 to 20 times more, compared to previous Barisan Nasional governments.
On a separate matter, Jagdeep called on the federal side to address the issue of housing loan rejections by financial institutions.
He reiterated the call for Putrajaya to provide an amicable solution to this because many prospective affordable housing buyers could not own any home due to this reason.
Earlier, Jagdeep, Bukit Gelugor MP Ramkarpal Singh and Paya Terubong assemblyman Yeoh Soon Hin, inspected the medium cost flats in Paya Terubong.
He also asked for the Federal Maintenance Fund (TP1M) to be approved after many applications were submitted by the local authorities, hoping that an answer would be provided before Chinese New Year next month.