Junta urged to rethink public housing plan for urban poor

A civil society organisation for the poor rejected the junta’s subsidised state housing project, saying that the project is not compatible with the livelihoods of the urban poor.  

The Four Regions Slum Network (FRSN), a civil society organisation and the political voice of marginalised communities in Thailand, on Tuesday submitted a letter headed ‘Not bringing slum dwellers to the flat’ to Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha, the junta leader and Prime Minister, urging the junta to rethink its housing project for poor communities.

The project to build subsidised apartments for poor urban communities is proposed as one of the solutions to the housing problems of people living in slums adjacent to railway lines.

The junta plans to reclaim slum areas along railways to make way for new infrastructure projects to upgrade the rail system throughout the country.

Last Friday, Gen Prayut said on the junta’s TV programme that the urban poor should move from slums to allow the government to use the space for other public utilities and to uplift their own standard of living.

“We have to cooperate in whatever [we] do, but don’t come and stay in slums,” said Gen Prayut. “We can use the [slum] areas to build public parks and other public utilities, [such as] sport stadiums,” he added.

But Jamnong Nupan, leader of the FRSN said in the letter that state-subsidised apartment projects for poor communities similar to those built by the National Housing Authority in the last 30 years will fail to tackle the problems of the urban poor.

“Most urban slum dwellers are in the informal labour sector, which requires the use of residential areas for earning a living, such as by selling goods, storing reused goods, or tailoring. So living in flats is not compatible with their livelihoods,” said the FRSN statement.

The group urged the government to continue with projects to develop secured housing for the urban poor in the slum areas themselves or in adjacent areas. Such projects were implemented in the three previous civilian administrations with the cooperation of the Community Organisations Development Institute and the Ministry of Social Development and Human Security.

The FRSN letter concludes: “The FRSN would like to firmly state that [Gen Prayut] should continue with the secure housing projects, which emphasise the participation of community members in developing the same residential areas or adjacent areas by leasing public land.”

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