Low-cost tag dropped for HDC homes

The Star 04/10/2004

KUCHING: Homes built for the poor by the state-owned Housing Development Corporation (HDC) will now be called HDC housing. 

Sarawak Housing Minister Datuk Abang Johari Tun Abang Openg said the ministry decided to drop the term “low-cost” for such housing to remove the social stigma attached to it. 

The term, he said, had always given the impression that the homes were “low-class.” 

“It is inappropriate to differentiate between houses for the poor and the rich,” he said at the Sarawak Housing Developers Association's 11th annual dinner at Kuching Hilton on Saturday. 

He said homes for the lower-income group were known as HDB flats in Singapore, commission housing in Australia and estate housing in New Zealand. 

The ministry, he added, would leave it to private developers to decide how they wanted to name the houses they built for the lower-income group. 

For large private housing schemes in Sarawak, developers are required to set aside 30% of their projects for low-cost housing.  

Johari urged architects to come up with innovative designs for affordable houses for the poor, noting that the conventional designs were unattractive. 

Earlier, the housing developers association chairman William Wei said it would champion the rights of housebuyers to ensure they received good quality homes as many had bought the houses with their life savings.  

The association, he said, wanted to be consulted in the formulation of government housing policies and regulations and on disciplinary actions against errant developers. 

“We want to ensure orderly development of the housing industry and that developers produce quality homes for buyers,” he added. 

Johari launched a working committee set up jointly by the ministry and the association to explore areas for improvement, innovations and new technologies in housing construction.