Secretary agrees to review affordable housing rules

The group of lawmakers who met with Rosário

The Secretary for Transport and Public Works, Raimundo do Rosário, said during a meeting that “he will in a short term review the affordable housing [application] law,” reported lawmaker Pereira Coutinho. The aforementioned meeting gathered ten local lawmakers and the Housing Bureau (IH) director.

According to Rosário, the purpose of such a review would be to “avoid situations like [where] we receive one kind of information and then another day the services ask for another kind of information.”

The meeting was requested by the lawmakers in order to address a problem regarding the title deeds of the affordable houses provided by the Housing Bureau in 2003, whose process was not yet concluded.

Prospective affordable housing owners recently received a letter from the IH asking them to update and clarify their household information. This prompt generated rumors that the government was preparing to change the rules and evict those buyers.

According to Wong Kit Cheng such a situation is unlikely as the government “for now only gave them a letter for them to explain their situation [status],” adding “the people complained and are very worried that they will be evicted, but the Secretary explained that ‘each case is one case’ [and that such measure is meant to clarify the real situation of each household].”

Wong agreed with Coutinho, saying that “for the time being the Secretary requested a few days to analyze the opinions and situations highlighted by the lawmakers, and says that he will come up with a final conclusion soon.”

As Pereira Coutinho also mentioned, the case is related to a “flaw in the law”: fifteen years ago, applicants could apply for a place in an affordable house for lacking the economic conditions to acquire a normal unit in the private market, without disclosing family information  such as their spouse or children.

According to Coutinho, applications were modified to exclude the marital status of the applicant, allowing the applicant to separate his or her assets from the remaining household. Coutinho insisted that this situation “must be reviewed,” and his sentiment met unanimous agreement.

None of the government officials were available to make any statement to the media after the meeting.