GEORGE TOWN: The Penang government will put its foot down and no longer allow low and low medium-cost units to be rented out, whether to foreigners or locals.
State Housing Committee chairman Datuk Seri S. Sundarajoo said there was a need to strictly control these low and low medium-cost units, which are heavily and grossly subsidised by the government, from being misused, including being rented out or turned into workers' hostels.
He said he was in the midst of preparing papers to be presented to the state executive council in the next few weeks on proper enforcement actions to be taken.
"It is very simple… are we going to allow so many foreigners (foreign workers) to live among us? That is not healthy. This also includes units being rented out to locals.
"Someone has to put their foot down and I will do it during my term. I will stop owners of these low and low medium-cost units from renting out their units (be)cause they are heavily and grossly subsidised.
"We will not allow others (who are not eligible) to enjoy it," he said.
Elaborating, Sundarajoo said some owners were making money out of their units.
He said they rented them out to factories for RM1,000 per month and found themselves another accommodation for RM500 per month.
"That is not our purpose of building this low and low medium-cost units. We might as well take back these units and give them to the more deserving ones," he added.
Sundarajoo said there were cases where certain factories took over abandoned housing schemes, including one in Seberang Prai Selatan, and turned them into workers' hostels.
The state government, he said, had no issue with that.
He explained that some of the projects were built in areas which are not strategic, away from the city limits.
"That can be our immediate solution, where factories convert these vacant units into workers' hostels, away from the locals.
"In the long-term, we are looking at allocating a corner within industrial parks to set up workers' hostels.
"Imagine if we have this in place at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic. We would be able to contain the virus from spreading," he said.
Sundarajoo said he would have to talk to the Housing and Local Government Ministry to possibly amend the Sales and Purchase Agreement (SPA).
He said, at the state government level, they would come out with their own enforcement actions.
"We will talk to the state legal adviser. We will do this legally. We will look at what path (should be taken) and do things amicably," he said.