To make affordable housing a reality, an inter-locking trio of fiscal, administrative and housing industry reforms should be set in motion.
The previous Pakatan Harapan government had aspired to build “one million” affordable homes within 10 years. Presumably, Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin intends to carry on with the same — as part of the national agenda to mitigate the cost of living for the rakyat.
Although not currently the case, ideally, affordable housing (both single-storey and multi-storey) should be predominantly driven by the federal government while state governments focus on low-cost flats.
Decentralisation of fiscal powers will enhance the financial capacity of state governments to engage in building more quality low-cost flats and reduce waiting times.
