Vertical Housing a Solution to Land Shortage
JAKARTA, KOMPAS — Efforts to provide adequate public housing are often hampered by increases in the price of land. The land shortage can be overcome by integrating public housing into urban planning and mass transportation developments.
The concept of vertical housing, or apartment complexes, can be a solution to providing affordable public housing. If public housing is developed only in areas with affordable land prices, urban development will be uneven and uncontrollable.
In accordance with the 2020-2024 National Medium-Term Development Plan, as this newspaper reported on Tuesday, about 17.36 percent of Indonesia’s 64 million households do not have adequate housing.
On the other hand, suburban housing and residential areas do not have supporting infrastructure and do not comply with spatial plans.
Data from the National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas) shows that Indonesia\'s urban population increased by 27 million people in 2010-2018 at a rate of 2.5 percent per year.
The increasing number of urban inhabitants was adding pressure to areas in the city. The increasing population must be balanced with the provision of adequate basic infrastructure.
"Instead of renting houses far from the city center, which means ineffective use of time as well as [higher] transportation costs, the government wants to build affordable low-cost rental apartments," said the public housing director general Khalawi Abdul Hamid of the Public Works and Housing (PUPR) Ministry.
The ministry is exploring cooperation with the industry and trade ministries to procure land for housing developments integrated with a market or commercial zone. Another plan is to build rusunawa (low-cost apartments) in an industrial area so that workers can live close to their workplace.
One example of a rental housing development near an industrial area is the rusunawa in Ungaran, Semarang regency, Central Java, while newly built rusunawa in Pasar Rumput, Jakarta, is an example of an integrated market-apartment complex.
Khalawi said that around 20 local administrations had readied land and submitted rental housing proposals to the central government. The limited government funds could be overcome by involving the private sector in developing low-cost apartments for both renting and owning (rusunami) in the same location.
Full control
Ari Kuncoro, the dean of the University of Indonesia’s cconomics and business school, said that integrating residential areas with public transportation was the solution to the housing problem. Infrastructure development must reach secondary cities to reduce transportation costs. "In Java, there is
no solution other than to develop transportation that is integrated with residential areas or to build apartments," he said.
According to Ari, it was growing increasingly difficult to meet housing needs in Java due to the limited availability of land. Indonesian Real Estate Association (REI) chairman Soelaeman Soemawinata supported the provision of vertical housing in urban areas. Such a housing concept would use urban space efficiently, while low-income households could have decent and affordable housing.
Public relations head Harison Mocodompis of the Agrarian and Spatial Planning Ministry/National Land Agency (BPN) said that land shortage was the major problem with public housing.
The government had almost no control over the land that was available to public housing developments. Harison said the Land Bill that had been submitted to the House of Representatives (DPR) would incorporate land banks in the spatial plan. Land banks would enable the government to manage the use of state-owned land.
Panangian Simanungkalit of the Panangian School of Property said that amid the increasing land prices, providing rental housing could be a solution to overcome the housing shortage. However, the government would need to push for an increased supply of new houses and rental housing to make this happen.
"Providing rental housing could be a solution to meeting the housing needs of low-income people until they are eventually able to [purchase] their own homes," he said.
The administration of Surabaya municipality in East Java has built cheap rental apartments for people who earn minimum wage. The rusunawa is in high demand and many potential residents are on a waiting list.
Because of the high price of houses, Anggi, 25, rents a house in downtown Surabaya to save on transportation costs for commuting to work.
Data from the housing ministry reveals a national shortage of 11.4 million houses and an annual housing need of 800,000 units.
Regarding the provision of low-cost housing, Savills research and consultancy director Anton Sitorus pointed out that state-owned developer Perumnas must be restored to its original function of providing low-cost housing. Perumnas should not leave the impression that its housing projects were a departure from its mission to provide affordable houses.
Subsidies
The Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin) trusts that the government will increase its subsidy for housing developments under the housing financing facility (FLPP). The subsidy needed to be increased not only to ensure the sustainability of property developers, but also to bring a positive impact for other industries.
Setyo Maharso, the chairman of Kadin’s permanent committee on property, said that constructing low-income housing was currently driving the property sector.
"The lack of the FLPP has caused uncertainty among developers. In fact, massive development of subsidized houses can help boost the economy, both in terms of the housing industry and large-scale industry, because 174 industries are involved in the property industry," Setyo said in Jakarta on Tuesday.
By Aug. 26, the housing fund had distributed the FLPP to appointed banks for the development of 54,279 houses for a cost of around Rp 5.21 trillion. This year\'s budget covers 68,000 subsidized houses. (NAD/KRN/FER/LKT/SYA/ETA