The National Affordable Housing Policy or Dasar Perumahan Mampu Milik (DRMM) was unveiled by Housing and Local Government Minister Zuraida Kamaruddin in early May. It is a sub-policy of the National Housing Policy (DRN) 2018-2025 which was launched earlier. The main purpose of introducing this sub-policy is to enable the housing affordability issue in the country to be tackled in a holistic way.

Why do we need DRMM?

DRMM outlines the main challenges faced by homebuyers (at macro and micro levels). It provides detailed guidelines for housing developers who are interested to build affordable homes. The guidelines include the building standards, key specifications as well as the selling price for the affordable homes.

From the ministry’s perspective, affordable homes may not only refer to homes at low prices but the home must also provide a comfortable and safe living environment, in other words, they must be quality homes for the lower income group.

Eligibility

You can apply to own a home in an affordable housing scheme if you are:

- A Malaysian
- Aged 18 years old and above
- At a qualified income level
- A first-time homebuyer
- Registered with the state government’s housing agency
- Agreeable to the terms and conditions of homeownership set by the local government 

Who has the priority to purchase affordable homes?

- Disabled person
- A senior citizen who is 60 years old and above
- Single mother
- Civil servant
- Single women who are 45 years old and above

What makes a comfortable affordable home?

Facilities      

- Community facilities that could encourage interaction among residents and serve community needs.
- All the fire fighting and safety equipment  certified by the Fire and Rescue Department of Malaysia

Car park allocation

- Landed homes: at least one parking bay
- High-rises: one parking bay for units with built-ups below 1,000 sq ft, two for units of over 1,000 sq ft
- Additional one motorcycle parking bay for every two units
- Additional 10% parking bays for visitors
- Additional parking bays for disabled drivers

Cheap doesn’t mean high density 

- Major cities in Selangor, Penang, Johor and Kuala Lumpur, affordable home density is 120 units per acre.
- Transport-oriented developments (within 400m radius from the main station), is around 150 units per acre

Quality

The development must fulfil QLASSIC assessment

Pricing

The pricing for affordable homes will not exceed RM300,000 but the exact selling price will vary across different states based on the household average income and construction cost in each area.