Family forced to seek shelter at multipurpose hall

Apart from a table and a few chairs, there is no other furniture for the family of seven who have been staying at the Sri Kota Flats multipurpose hall since 2019. — YAP CHEE HONG/The Star

A FAMILY of seven have been living in a multipurpose hall in a Bandar Tun Razak government housing scheme in Kuala Lumpur, due to poverty.

The family comprises five young children aged between eight months and eight years and their parents aged 44 and 30.

Noor Rimah hopes the family can move into a proper housing unit soon so residents can use the hall.

Sri Kota Flats Residents Association chairman Noor Rimah Mohamad said the family moved into the hall in late 2019 as they had nowhere else to go.

“I heard they were evicted from their previous home for not paying rent and were temporarily placed there by someone from a political party.

“A DBKL (Kuala Lumpur City Hall) Housing Department officer told me the couple was not eligible for a government unit in Sri Kota as their documents were not in order,” she said.

Noor Rimah said although DBKL had helped secure a cleaning job for the man with a salary of RM800 a month, it was not sufficient, so they remained in the hall.

“We cannot use the hall until they are relocated.

“We also don’t have the heart to ask them to leave because they are helpless,’’ she said.

She added that the man’s brother, who also lives at the Sri Kota Flats, had said his sibling was struggling to make ends meet and that his wife was asthmatic.

Noor Rimah said residents had complained that the surroundings were not kept clean.

StarMetro visited the community hall with Noor Rimah and found the surrounding area to be in a deplorable state.

Rubbish and items like kitchen and construction tools, broken television set and metal parts were seen outside the hall, while soiled baby’s diapers and more rubbish were found in drains around the building.

During our visit, the mother was seen sleeping on the floor with her children.

A heap of unfolded clothes was placed nearby and a pram was seen at one end of the hall.

Apart from a table and a few chairs, there was no other furniture.

Although the fan was switched on, the hall was hot like a furnace.

Noor Rimah approached the woman and advised her to keep the place clean and dispose of rubbish as the area was a dengue hotspot.

Bandar Tun Razak PKR branch deputy chairman Malaruvanan Devadass, who placed the family at the community hall, said documentation problems were hampering the family’s application for a people’s housing unit.

“We tried to help the family get a unit, but the man said he had lost his MyKad.

Bandar Tun Razak MCA chief Datuk Chew Yin Keen said it was unfortunate that the family had to go through such hardship.

“We need to help them as no one should be living in such circumstances,” he said.

Chew said he would look into ways to help the family.

At press time, DBKL could not be contacted for comments on the matter.