The National House Buyers Association (HBA) suggested the government set up its own management department with capable and competent building managers and officers to manage and maintain the low-cost flats without outsourcing the task to third party property management companies.
“The outsourcing will inadvertently breed corrupt practices and siphon away the limited funds available for the actual management and maintenance of the low-cost flats,” HBA secretary-general Chang Kim Loong told FMT.
Rajiv, who is Bukit Gasing assemblyman, said the government’s lack of concern and attention to this problem had resulted in low-cost house owners living in slum-like conditions.
He said the residents could have a decent standard of living and be able to maintain their dignity if the government were to take over the maintenance of low-cost houses.
Rajiv added that it could be done by Putrajaya calling for open tenders to hire maintenance companies and ensure they were held accountable for the services they provided.
However, Chang said it was not the first time someone had made such a suggestion.
He said the government had even agreed to take over the management of low-cost flats in the country some years back but did not implement it.
According to Chang, back in 2010, during the drafting of the Strata Management Act (SMA), a representative of the Association of Valuers, Property Managers, Estate Agents and Property Consultants in the Private Sector Malaysia (PEPS) had urged the government to manage and maintain all low-cost flats in the country before they deteriorated to become urban slums.
It was agreed by the housing and local government ministry that the valuation and property services department (JPPH) should set up a task force and budget to manage and maintain all low-cost flats in the country.
“JPPH then set up a sub-committee to prepare the budget, structure and plan for the task ahead to manage and maintain all low-cost flats in the country.
“The government announced at the time that it would set aside a few million ringgit to rehabilitate some of the low-cost flats. From what we understand, the ministry then took over the funds but somehow JPPH was left out in the cold.
“We do not know what happened to the funds but the low-cost flats have indeed continued to deteriorate into present-day slums,” Chang said.
He added that while the slum-like environment in low-cost housing areas was a long-standing issue, it had been further exacerbated by the pandemic.
“The majority of low-cost residents are low-wage earners who feed themselves and their families from hand to mouth. Hence, many of them are not able to pay the maintenance charges for proper management and maintenance of the common property in their own low-cost strata scheme.
“Also, most of these low-cost flats lack capable joint management committees (JMC) and management committees (MC) which have the necessary skill sets to carry proper management and maintenance of the common property in their respective strata schemes.
“These owners also have to put food on the table and may not have time to serve on the JMC and MC on a voluntary basis,” he said.
Aside from taking over the maintenance, Chang also called on the government to put in place measures to ensure the well-being of low-cost housing project residents.
These include the reduction of utility rates, as well as setting up mobile clinics, police booths, mobile libraries and tuition centres.
“The government must come up with programmes to take them out from the slums, or at the very least, make it so for the next generation, that is the children in these households,” he said.