Cuepacs has urged the government to set up a national housing committee to tackle the problem of the people’s inability to own a house.

Its president, Omar Osman, said the committee among others had to revamp the system for application for low- and medium-cost houses, to ensure the units could only be purchased by low-income earners and those who did not own any house.

He said the hike in property prices had prompted the rich to purchase houses for investment purposes.

“The low-income earner will continue to rent a house. The housing issue can become critical if it is not addressed immediately, with more people being unable to own a house,” he told reporters after launching the biennial general meeting of the Peninsular Malaysia Union of Public Service Office Assistants.

Omar said last week Cuepacs held a meeting with the Treasury Department, Syarikat Perumahan Nasional Berhad, Kuala Lumpur City Hall and a bank representative on the issue.

“They (the Treasury) too look at the matter seriously, but Cuepacs emphasised that the members do not want the housing to be located far away from the city as it would be meaningless,” he said.

On the 2013 Budget that would be tabled tomorrow by Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak, Omar hoped that the government would agree to give the civil servants a bonus of two-month salary for this year.

“We notice that the economy is strong and the government had been giving the 1Malaysia People's Aid (BR1M), and many other forms of aid to the people, even a taxi driver gets it (aid),” he said.

“So we are confident that the government can afford to give it (two months bonus) to the civil servants,” Omar said.

Last August, the prime minister had announced a half-month bonus for all civil servants.

- Bernama