Applicants of affordable housing in Penang must update their personal particulars by March 21 or they will be considered “inactive”.
State Town and Country Planning, Housing and Arts Committee chairman Wong Hon Wai said a total of 84,445 applicants who registered before Dec 31, 2007, had not updated their status.
He said updating the database would enable the state secretariat to more effectively process and allocate units under the People’s Housing Project scheme (PPR) and low and low medium-cost housing projects.
“The eRumah (the state’s online housing registration system) was introduced last year in our effort to be more transparent.
“Since then, the applicants can register and check their application status online.
“Now we want to improve and update the housing database system so those who registered before 2008 should furnish us with their latest details,” he said at a press conference here yesterday.
Wong said many had not updated their particulars resulting in offer letters being returned to the developers as some of the applicants had moved or passed away.
“We even have telephone numbers in the database that are still six digits so we cannot contact the applicants.
“Some were no longer interested as they are now earning more while others who had applied when single now have families.
“Since Dec 15, we have been distributing fliers and getting the elected representatives to inform the public about updating their status,” he said.
Wong added that some areas were in “hot demand” while others especially in Seberang Prai Selatan and Seberang Prai Tengah were not as popular.
Since 2008 till Dec 22 this year, a total of 26,917 applicants have registered for affordable housing.
Almost 5,000 have accepted the units offered while 17,949 are still on the waiting list.
For details, log on to www.erumah.penang.gov.my or e-mail to erumah@penang.gov.my or call 04-6505392/6505336. - By The Star
4 comments
but the erumah website alw show error or show no display... such as failure
The selection system is broken.
I see people waiting for years whereas some singles (not married) got their units upon 2 years of applying. A friend of mine got a unit and his girlfriend got another unit as well.
80k outstanding application for LMC in Penang? We have total of 1.4 million Penangites. A quater are childrens. 80k is around 10% of the age range, which means 10% of working Penangites earn household income less then RM3500 in the waiting list? How to survive on RM3500 for a family of 4?
Give priority to the poor and the married please. Not to singles earning RM3500 or less per month is my point.
Hi Ho,
You have raised a valid point. The numbers don't make sense. The system and the criteria to be considered poor don't make sense.
A fresh graduate (aged 25) earning RM 2500/month vs a father (aged 45) of 2 earning RM2500/month definitely cannot be put under the same financial category, as the former has more potential earning power with his/her career peak coming up, while the latter is almost over with the peak of career. The banks would be more willing to finance a mortgage for a young person, therefore making a RM250k apartment more affordable to him than a 45-year-old.
In order to serve the purpose of LMC housing, all these details have to be re-looked at, so that precious resources are not wasted, help is available to the truly deserved, and public policies are appropriately formulated to influence public behavior in order to yield a desirable social environment.
Thanks for your feedback to my comment.
Just look at how many LMCs are rented out or sold within 5 years of completion though special agreements. There are no law enforces to check on those whom violate the rules.