Ahmad, Halimah

Hashim, Ahmad Hariza

Masud, Jariah

Paim, Laily

Yahaya, Nurizan

Universiti Putra Malaysia Institutional Repository

UPM Research Report 1997-2000, Section 2-Extended AbstractsLow Cost Housing Programme in Metropolitan Cities: Policy ImplicationAhmad Hariza Hashim, Nurizan Yahaya, Laily Paim, Jariah Masud and Halimah AhmadFacultyof HumanEcologyUniversitiPutraMalaysia43400UPM,Serdang,SelangorMalaysiaE-mail ofCorrespondingAuthor:ahariza@putra.upm.edu.myKey words: low cost housing, metropolitan cities, policy implication.IntroductionHousing is an important factor in de-termining the quality of life of the peo-ple. Housing can also have an impactand influence on the human life. Manyof the governments in this world be-lieved that, a motivated, stable, lesswork conflict and high life satisfactionpopulation can only be achievedthrough providing enough number ofhousing with good environment. TheMalaysian government also held thesame belief and starting from the Sec-ond Malaysian Plan till the presentPlan, the government have emphasizedon the importance of housing espe-cially for the urban low-income people.Therefore the aims of this study is tolook into the well being of those lowincome people who live in low costhousing in the big cities. Among theaspect being studied are challengesface by this group of people, andchanges and aspiration of those wholive in the metropolitan areas.Materials and MethodsThree metropolitan cities were chosenat random for this study was KualaLumpur, Johor Bahru and Kuching.Eight hundred and fifty two respon-dents were chosen from these threecities at random. Stratified randomsampling method was adopted to selectthese respondents. A list of low costhousing estates was first obtained.From these list, only estates with 10years of age and above was selected.Three housing estates from this listwere later chosen at random and re-spondents were later selected system-atically. Data was collected using aquestionnaire. The questionnaire con-sists of questions on socio economicbackground, housing information, so-cial environment, social lifestyle,housing aspiration, social integration,neighborhood and satisfaction in life.370Results and DiscussionThe results shows that majority of therespondents have live in this areawithin the range of 10 to 15 years. Thehousehold size is between 5 to 6 peopleand the average age for the youngestchild is within 11.9 years old. Morethan 13% of the respondents have morethan one household live in one houseand 6.5% of the total respondents canbe categorized as aged. In generalmany of the respondents feel that theirpresent housing is not suitable for oldage because it is too small and high(referring to flat).In terms of income, many earns aroundRMlOOO-1999per month. Majoritysaid that they work as a labourer orworking as an operator in the factoriesnearby when they first live here. Outof these 19.2% said that they havechanged to a better job. Majority of therespondents still rents the house theylive and this is not surprising becausemajority of the respondents live in ahouse rented by the local authoritysuch as DBKL and MBJB for the urbanpoor. Many of the respondents feelthat rent is fair when comparing it withthe house they live however for thosewho feel that the rent is high, said thatthe house is too small and of low qual-ity. The common housing problemsfaced by these people are their house isvery warm, dark and many crack ap-pearing on the wall and also on thefloor. They also said that the kitchen istoo small and the number of bedroomis not enough for the family. Almostall the house involved in this studyeither has one or two bedrooms.The children in this area said theirhousing is not comfortable to live be-cause it is too small, noisy, no privacyand also lacking in facilities for them toplay, such as football ground or chil-dren play ground.Many of the respondents prefer a ter-race houses and not many wants to livein a flat. Nearly 30% said that theyhave planned to move out from thisplace to a much better house. Thehouse price that they say they can af-ford is between RM25,OOOtoRM45,OOOand they prefer a goodquality house. They study also foundout that there are improvement in in-comes and majority owns at least avehicle and nearly all owns householdappliance such as video player andtelevision.ConclusionsIn general the residents of low costhousing in the metropolitan cities inMalaysia needs more than two bed-room houses and much bigger spacebecause of the big household number.There is also a positive improvement intheir income and many believed thatthey could change to a better life after10 years residing here. Therefore theconcept of hire purchase for housingcan be implemented for this group ofpeople. The metropolitan cities localauthority should also keep on continu-ing renting houses for the low-incomepeople but for a limited time. Theargument for this suggestion is thatmore 71% said that the willing andwant to move to better house once theirfamily become bigger. The study alsosuggested a more flexible housingshould be design for this group wherethe house grow as the family size andincome grow.To ensure the successfulness of thispolicy, the government should alsocome with a policy to promote savingamong this people especially saving forhousing. Other that this, the govern-ment should also gives support andincentive for this group to improvetheir quality of life through small ormicro scale industry.Social SciencesBenefits from the studyThe study revealed that low-incomepeople in the cities can improve theirfinancial situation and can afford toown a more comfortable housing suit-able for their family.Literature cited in the textNone.Project Publications inRefereed JournalsLaily Paim, Ahmad Hariza Hashim. NurizanYahaya. 1999. Kesejahteraan Hidup diKalangan lsi Rumah Perumahan KosRendah di Bandar Metropolitan.Malaysian Journal of Consumer andFamily Economics. Vol. 2.Project Publications inConference ProceedingsNone.Graduate ResearchNone.371

Low cost housing programme in metropolitan cities: policy implication

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Low cost housing programme in metropolitan cities: policy implication

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