Consider rent-to-own for B40 youth

Photo: FAIHAN GHANI/The Star

ONE way to address the issue of housing ownership among young people in the B40 (low income) group is to implement a rent-to-own (RTO) scheme offering affordable housing units.

Why an RTO scheme when the houses are “affordable”? But affordability varies from state to state and not everyone will be able to afford even the “affordable” houses. The crux of this issue is that anecdotal evidence has shown that it will become harder for young people to purchase a house in these challenging times when employability is uncertain for new entrants in the labour market. They risk not being able to earn a stable and sufficient income.