Importance Of Housing Affordability

Each individual shares the right to a decent standard of living. The essential to achieve this standard is through accessing to adequate housing. Housing is a human basic needs that caters the protection and constancy that enables individuals the opportunity to thrive. Housing is of huge psychological importance since it is an important part of our definition of what is necessary quality of life and social status. In Maslow Theory study explained that the hierarchy of needs as important needs for all human being. In order to achieve the higher stage of needs, people need security of a home and family after foods and drinks. Without these basic needs, one cannot achieve the higher need of ‘self-actualization’ (Martin & Joonish, 2007). In brief,

Gurran N. & Fagan K, 2007) housing affordability is identified as housing that fullfill the needs of a range of low to moderate income households and priced so that the low and moderate incomes are able to meet their basic living cost. The term of affordability illustrates that many of the conceptual and measurement problems stem from questioned understandings of the problem. Housing affordability is defined as a link between housing and people. Housing affordability is a choice decision function, which made by a family between housing and non-housing expenditure that replicates on the balancing act in the household spending that might consider as very subjective (Mengjie.L, Reed,R & Wu, H,

The be cleared, the simple meaning of affordable housing is people of modest income with reasonable quality can afford to compensate without any danger or effects. In addition, affordable housing also can be specified in the course of social rented accommodation, mid-market rented accommodation, shared ownership, shared equity, discounted, low cost housing for sale, including patches for self-build, and low-cost housing without subsidy. More recent definitions are broader and also defined by (Maribyrnong City Council, 2008), where the cost (whether the mortgage repayment or rent) is no more than 30% of the household’s income. Housing cost that exceeds of the percentage is consider as housing stress. Census 2010 made by (Jabatan Perangkaan Malaysia, 2010) in the figure 2.1 showed a drop in the percentage of house ownership by any members of private households, that is from 67.3% in 2000 to 59.0% in 2010. The percentage includes any members in a private household that owned the house he/she is presently living in as well as any members who owned a house elsewhere in Malaysia. Meanwhile, 21.3% of households do not own a