KUALA LUMPUR, April 9 — A stereotype often tagged to residents at the People’s Housing Project (PPR) and public housing (PA) in the city is that they are poor and are always in need of aid.

While some assume that such housing projects are a breeding ground for social problems, these are just the types of prejudice Noor Hayati Ismail, a resident at the PPR Kg Baru Hicom, does not want to live with for the rest of her life.

"We want to be more self-sufficient, and we want to change.

"I don’t want people to be sceptical of PPR residents, and assume that if you live in a PPR, you belong to that stereotype,” Noor Hayati told Malay Mail when met.

As the secretary of the PPR community organisation, Perwacom Prihatin, she said one of the requests made was for empowerment programmes such as ‘Kita Untuk Kita’ (K2K) by Think City, which is a collaborative programme with the government and community leaders.

Noor Hayati said her hope for the future is for PPR residents to become taxpayers, and contribute to the development of the country.

"Actually it has to do with our wages. In general here, we are recipients of zakat, meaning to say that we are B40 (bottom 40 per cent), 74 per cent of us here earn below RM2,500.

"We want to make an effort to improve our lives, that’s why we have requested a one-stop skills centre so that we can equip ourselves with the knowledge that enables us to have income growth.

"So in terms of wages, before this, we don’t need to pay tax, now we want to become taxpayers,” she said.

Noor Hayati added that despite a lot of aid channelled to PPR residents, certain things are not addressed.

"That is why we want the government and private sectors to come and see for themselves, to know exactly what needs to be done,” she said.

Noor Hayati has been a resident of the PPR Kg Baru Hicom since the PPR was first launched in 2008 as a transit public housing for the underprivileged.

"It was planned for young couples who had difficulty finding their own accommodation, but due to the dire need for housing, as well as the high cost of living in the city, many of us remained here.

"We just can’t afford to leave this place. But we are not giving up. While the situation out there still does not permit us to move out, we are continuing to work towards moving out with the help of the government and private initiatives like Think City,” she said.

Noor Hayati added that while the country is in the endemic phase, things have not returned to normal and now PPR residents like her have to grapple with issues like the rising cost of living.

Empowering PPR Communities

According to Think City managing director Hamdan Abdul Majeed, the K2K programme is focused on helping communities find ways to improve their livelihood progressively.

"The focus is initiated in partnership with communities. It is about how communities take ownership and leadership to bring improvement in their lives, to the places where they live, and to strengthen their economic and livelihood status.

"So that’s why the programme is called ‘Kita Untuk Kita’, and the government’s role is to provide the facilitation needed,” Hamdan said when met at the PPR Kg Baru Hicom.

He, however, stressed that the programme is not intended to be dependent on the government but is about the community taking ownership to bring change.

"Every PPR is not the same; it’s not homogenous, they are all different, and every household is different.

"We are also trying to ensure that it is targeted... and the focus is about community empowerment, leadership, and co-management.

"It must be a partnership between the community and the state — state meaning the government — to ensure that we achieve a sustainable outcome, in terms of improving their living environment,” Hamdan said, adding the programme has been rolled out in 10 other PPRs that are located in urban areas.

By working with several PPRs simultaneously, Hamdan said Think City is able to identify different problems faced by PPR residents.

Among others, the programme is currently conducted with PPR in Kota Damansara, Sri Sarawak Public Housing (PPA), and also the PPA on Jalan Hang Tuah.

"The issues faced by public housing are not symptomatic issues, it’s not like taking a Panadol, chewing it, and relieving our headache.

"It is complex interdependent issues, that manifest because of the outcome that you see here. So it requires a more holistic approach towards problem-solving and requires us to ensure that it is not top-down, rather a partnership and ownership among the communities,” he added.

Over the years, Hamdan said one of the key problems identified was the decline of community living.

"We have lost the whole idea of community living, whereby PPR is no longer a community, PPR has become individuals.

"Now, how do you bring them together to form a community again? The spirit of community is the foundation that we want to achieve.

"Our society is built on the idea of gotong-royong (working together) and collective action, but that spirit has declined over time,” he said.

He added that Think City is working to bring awareness among the people in the PPR which translates to a more efficient problem-solving process.

Apart from this, Hamdan said urban poverty is a new modern-day challenge, but on a more positive note, he also pointed out that Malaysia does not have to deal with issues like slums and informal housing.

"While we have been successful as a country to house a nation, we must celebrate the success of the fact that we don’t really have a big issue with slums, for the scale of urban transition we have today — a condition we see in other countries that take 100 to 200 years — we did it over the course of 50 years,” he said.