Affordable Housing Policy in Penang State of Malaysia

Synonyms

Low-and-middle income housing; Low-cost housing; Public housing; Social housing

Definition

Affordable housing refers to housing which part of the rent or cost is borne by the government to assist the middle or lower income households in obtaining and paying for appropriate housing without experiencing undue financial hardship.

Introduction

Housing is one of the basic necessities of human. It is a fundamental right for everyone to have access to a safe and habitable home, and it is the responsibility and obligation of the government to guarantee adequate housing for its citizens (UN Habitat 2009). There is substantial evidence of a growing housing affordability problem in most urbanized cities. A recent report shows that cities housed more than half of the world population; however, there are only 13% of the world’s cities have affordable housing (UN Habitat 2016), indicating the severity of shortages of affordable housing in urbans, especially in swelling cities. Therefore,...