GEORGE TOWN: The Penang government today admitted that it had offered low-cost housing to squatters, who were being evicted despite not qualifying for the houses.
State Housing committee chairman Jagdeep Singh Deo said that the Selection Process Enhancement Committee (SPEC) had decided that squatters, who were being evicted, were not required to adhere to the minimum RM2,500 or RM3,500 income requirement.
"They are given priority for the Type A and Type B (Low Cost and Low Medium Cost) Housing.
"This is because they are about to lose their homes as a result of being evicted.
"We do not take into account their income as we are a caring government," he told reporters here today.
Jagdeep was commenting on the Auditor-General's Report 2016, which revealed that the adherence to the terms and conditions of application for low-cost housing programmes in Penang was unsatisfactory as there were applicants who exceeded the qualification for getting the houses while those who were truly qualified were still waiting for their houses.
The report said that for the period of 2014 until 2016, a total of 208 applicants earning more than RM2,500 received the low-cost houses and applicants earning between RM2,501 and RM3,500 recorded the highest approvals with 162 applicants.
It also highlighted that for the same period, there were four cases of applications which were approved involving applicants earning more than RM8,500.
Jagdeep said he believed that those four applications with applicants earning more than RM8,500 were most likely squatters.
He also admitted that the state government did not adhere to the income limit stringently.
"We look at the nett salary of an applicant after EPF and social security deductions as well as loans cuts.
"We give leeway to applicants whose gross salary may be slightly more than the income requirement but nett salary is lower than the income requirement," he said.
He said this was because that was also the criteria used by banks in approving housing loans.
"We made this decision after realising that the biggest hurdle for our applicants is failure to get loans," he said.
Jagdeep also categorically shifted the blame over the other weaknesses highlighted by the 2016 Auditor-General’s report.
The other weaknesses were that the state's management of housing distribution was unsatisfactory due to its failure to offer the housing units, and that the process of filling up the vacant units was slow despite having applicants on the waiting list.
The report noted that a total of 3,747 applications for housing schemes in Penang were still on the waiting list for the Public Housing Project (PPR) units, while there were 436 units of PPR were still vacant.
The report pointed out that 490 low-cost housing applicants and 666 PPR applicants have not received any housing unit although they had registered for more than 15 years.
The audit also found there was no planning for the development of new housing although the Various Trust Accounts For the Financing of Low-Cost Public Housing Projects had a high balance of RM121.99 million and receipts since 2013 had not been spent.
Jagdeep said the Auditor-General should be auditing the Federal government over this matter instead of the Penang government.
“I challenged the Auditor General to audit the Federal government on whether they had adequately provided low-cost housing in Penang. Don't just audit us and pluck figures from the air," he said.
He said the Federal government could not hide the fact that between 2000 and 2007, only 5,124 low medium-cost and low-cost housing were built by the previous Barisan Nasional state government.
On the vacant PPR units, Jagdeep said of the total 2,370 PPR units in Penang, only 320 units were vacant.
Meanwhile, commenting on the same report, a member of the state Public Accounts Committee (PAC), Datuk Muhammad Farid Saad, said the revelation that there were four cases of applications which were approved involving applicants earning more than RM8,500, was shocking.
"This is especially so under a government which constantly promotes itself as competent, accountable and transparent (CAT).
"It is highly regrettable that there are still leakages in the vetting system used by the DAP-led Penang government," he said.
Farid, who is also Barisan Nasional's Pulau Betong assemblyman, said the fact that some applicants had waited for 15 years was also shocking since the SPEC was set up to make it easier for application of the low-cost, low medium-cost and affordable housing.
He also added that it does not make sense for hundreds of PPR units to be left empty when there were thousands of applicants on the waiting list.
"Failure by the state government to rent out the units, led to those in the lower income bracket unable to have a roof over their head, and a reduction in the state's income.
"What is the logic then for the state government to push the Federal government to build more houses many they are not managing the situation wisely," he added.
He also questioned the RM121.99 million from the trust fund for low-cost housing which had not been utilised since 2013, stressing that it showed the state's incapability to plan development properly and provide the necessities for the Penang people.