Low-Cost Housing

Low-cost housing represents a serious national problem in both developed and developing countries. The acuteness and magnitude of the problem are obviously more pronounced in developing countries, but increasingly the issue of low-cost housing cuts across economic, social, technological, and political aspects. The Malaysian government realized this fact and has created ambitious public housing programs (Agus, 2001, Tan, 2008) in order to meet this demand. The mounting cost of housing, which has escalated greater than household earnings, has a negative impact on the housing delivery system for the poor. Moreover, it reduces the capability of the poor to sustain the expenses of buying an affordable house. The question of affordability centers on end-financing by the purchasers. Only certain low-income households can afford to purchase houses from developers and those are mostly with a fixed source of income. Financial institutions would usually decline applications that do not meet that particular minimum requirement. This research is based on certain aspects, which are crucial when dealing with low-cost housing approaches in the Malaysian context.