Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) has decided to waive the rental fees for tenants currently living in the Jinjang Utara Longhouse Settlements from 2014 until their relocation to a new People’s Housing Project (PPR) in Sri Aman later this year.
Deputy Minister for the Federal Territories Dr Loga Balan Mohan told Sinar Harian that the rent exemption was done after taking into consideration the extensive level of poverty in the temporary housing project.
Despite DBKL’s largesse, Loga stressed that tenants with outstanding rent outside of the exemption period must still pay up.
“Tenants who have outstanding rent payments due can refer directly to the Department of Housing Management and Community Development to settle their arrears,” he said.
Loga also stressed that while the rent on the longhouse units are exempted, tenants are still required to pay for their utilities, including water, electricity and other services.
According to DBKL’s own numbers, the Jinjang Utara Longhouse Projects has a total of 991 registered tenants on record.
The longhouse projects currently sit on a plot of land earmarked for private development, whose developer is obliged to build low-cost housing to accommodate all the existing tenants in the area.
“Following the failure of the developer to complete these low-cost units, the Ministry of Housing and Local Government has taken the initative to build its own block of low-cost homes, now known as the Seri Aman PPR,” the deputy minister said.
“The relocation process is scheduled to begin in mid-2016.”
The Jinjang Utara Longhouse Projects were built in 1990 as temporary housing for squatters uprooted from their original kampung setinggan (“illegal squatter villages”) in six locations across Kuala Lumpur.
We’re not sure if 26 years is an apt definition for “26 years without a proper state-assisted home”, but for longhouse residents in KL facing crippling urban poverty, this is what it is.
