Rent-to-Own scheme to be extended to help those in need of affordable housing

KUALA LUMPUR: Improvements are currently being made to the Rent-to-Own (RTO) scheme in order to meet the needs of the target groups, says Akmal Nasrullah Mohd Nasir.

The Deputy Local Government Development Minister said the ministry was prepared to work with various agencies and even the private sector as well as financial institutions to expand the scheme to more people.

"Through the 12th Malaysia Plan (RMK-12), the RTO scheme is a form of homeownership through lease involving developers and financial institutions that will be extended to certain target groups.

"The government has decided to expand the RTO scheme to enable more people, namely the below 40 income group (B40) and middle 40 income group (M40) to own homes," he said in reply to a question from Rushdan Rusmi (PN-Padang Besar) during Question Time on Wednesday (Nov 15).

Rushdan had asked the ministry whether the rent-to-own (RTO) concept for first-time homebuyers would be supported by financial institutions such as banks or through government agencies such as the Syarikat Perumahan Negara Berhad (SPNB), 1Malaysia People's Housing Programme (PR1MA) or cooperatives.

Akmal Nasrullah said the RTO scheme was introduced in 2017 specifically to assist in homeownership for the B40 group who were offered the People's Housing Project (PPR) units as they could not secure proper financing from any financial institutions.

According to the Deputy Minister, the RTO scheme has been implemented in 18 PPRs involving 7,234 housing units.

"As of Sept 30 this year, a total of 5,620 families were offered this scheme nationwide.

"The government is always committed to providing affordable housing programmes to improve the well-being of the people, ensuring that every citizen has a place to live, whether through ownership or rental," he said.