PUTRAJAYA: Some 1,000 PPR (People’s Housing Project) units nationwide will be opened up to families badly affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.

       At a lowly monthly rental of RM124 per flat, the Malaysian Family Housing Initiative or Rumah Ikram will ensure they get affordable housing for up to two years.

       Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob is scheduled to present the keys to programme participants on Sept 24.

       Housing and Local Government Minister Datuk Seri Reezal Merican Naina Merican said the initiative was part of his KPI (key performance indicator) for his first 100 days in office.

       “The pandemic has affected the people in many ways. Some have lost their income and others have had their salaries greatly reduced, affecting their ability to pay for housing.

       “We have also heard cases of people being evicted. This housing initiative is to help tide them over until things get better for them,” he told reporters after visiting 13 blocks of Jubli Perak apartments in Section 4, Bangi, which have been given a facelift costing RM3.4mil.

       Besides the Rumah Ikram initiative, Reezal said he was planning other moves to ease the people’s economic plight.

       He said more such housing facilities can be offered if state governments came on board.

       “We hope that state governments will participate in this initiative so that we can offer more such homes to those in need,” he added.

       Applications for Rumah Ikram are now open and can be submitted through teduh.kpkt.gov.my.

       Successful applicants will be informed within a week. Reezal gave his assurance that conditions to apply for the housing initiative would be minimal.

       On another matter, the minister said utilisation of the Home Maintenance Fund to maintain, repair and spruce up low- and medium-cost homes developed privately had been affected by movement restrictions.

       He said use of the RM60mil allocation has been slow as jobs could not be carried out, adding that of the RM27mil allocated for Selangor, only RM6mil had been used.

       “The remainder will be used by the end of November,” he added.

       According to the ministry’s records, there are 3,519 private low- and medium-cost housing projects in the peninsula, with about 500,000 houses. Half these projects are located in Selangor.