DAP's Kepong MP Lim Lip Eng urged Putrajaya to revive the original People's Housing Programme (PPR), pointing out that current housing programmes for the middle class such as the Federal Territories Affordable Housing Project (Rumawip) cannot cater for the poor.

"During the previous government, the Ministry of Federal Territories had approved over 20,000 units of Rumawip units in Kuala Lumpur, but there are not enough PPR units to be rented for the lower income group.

"What we need is more low-cost PPR units but built with much better facilities for the urban poor. The idea is for them to have a shelter until they can afford to buy higher end properties on their own," he said in a statement today.

Lim said not many young married couples can afford a unit under Rumawip, which normally costs around RM300,000.

He added that they also find it hard to secure a loan due to low salary as well as an outstanding student loan.

As such, Lim urged Federal Territories Minister Khalid Samad to seriously look into building more PPR units to meet the needs of the young people.

"The original purpose of the PPR is for renting. It is not practical for the government to promote the idea of renting to eventually own the units.

"When some units are privately owned, and others are still being rented, there will be issues of management and collection of maintenance fees. It is, therefore, best to stick to the original intention of PPR.

"Owners of PPR may move elsewhere while the units they own are rented out to foreigners or to locals at a higher rate. This defeats the purpose of the housing scheme to help the poor," he said