Prioritise affordable housing for citizens

THE recent eviction of settlers at Garden Hills settlement in the National Capital District has sparked debate.
The Morata 1 settlement on portion 273 was supposed to be the next in line for another eviction exercise, however, a recent court order has put a stop to it until further notice as the matter is currently before the court.
The rampant growth of illegal settlements in Papua New Guinea’s urban centres is an indication of the growing socio-economic needs confronting the nation’s growing population compounded with failed political or Government decisions to appropriately address the underlying causes of the situation over the years.
In other words, this has been a concern that has gotten out of control due to inability of the Government to be decisive.
The two fundamental causes to this are rural-urban migration and insufficient supply of houses in PNG’s urban centres.
The Government has failed to identify it as an issue and address it.
In many districts throughout the nation, many vital needs of
the societies such as access to markets and money is hardly available and access to better quality education and health facilities is not there.
The practice of corrupt deals resulting in incomplete projects, public monies meant for infrastructure projects easily siphoned and other related corrupt practices are causing people to move to urban centres in search of better opportunities.
Most urban settlements house people with low-paying jobs.
Many settlers are employed as cleaners, tea boys, maids, gardeners, fuel pump attendants, truck drivers, machinery operators, security guards, carpenters etc.
Despite surviving on minimum wages, they contribute to the economy in labour and taxes.
Globally, the rural-urban migration has been in existence since the Agrarian revolution that saw
people in rural areas moving into towns and cities in search for better life and employment opportunities as documented in European history.
The developed nations went through this trend of urban development as their societies transformed.
They ensured humanitarian considerations were given prominence in their decision-making rather than applying authoritarian, inhumane and undignified approaches as what transpired at the Garden Hills settlement.
Housing is not affordable.
Many people love to see fellow citizens being abused and humiliated without considering the value of life.
PNG, being a member of the United Nations, is duty-bound to implement the millennium development goals.
Access to affordable housing been declared a human right and governments are expected to provide that for their citizens.
The Government has failed this commitment, resulting in its many citizens in urban areas facing difficulties.
Settlements have sprouted as a cheap and convenient way of surviving for people from all walks of life.
A thorough research conducted into the housing and real estate industry in PNG by the Independent Consumer and Competitive Commission in 2010 came up with a long list of recommendations
on what needed to be done to address housing problems in urban PNG.
The Government then placed the task under its policy think tank, the PNG National Research Institute (NRI), to coordinate the implementation of these recommendations, especially to formulate a national housing policy.
While the NRI was adamant to see these recommendations implemented through holistic government approach, this was not easy as one would have thought.
Many of these relevant stakeholders were never committed to the task.
These agencies became somewhat protective over their areas of profession and saw the task as more or less intruding into their operations.
The whole-of-government-approach has not reached the expected outcome because the political will and Government support were not there.
The housing need and aspiration of ordinary citizens, which
could have been effectively addressed through an appropriate housing policy, was left in limbo then.
Having been involved in urban settlement issues as a former acting director-general with the Department of Prime Minister and National Executive Council and then as a senior research fellow with the NRI under the national land development programme focusing on urban housing and later as a strategic planner with the National Housing Commission dealing with housing development issues, there is no doubt that the underlying problem to all these urban humanitarian crises is leadership.
Many PNG leaders are not sensitive to human values, dignity and rights.
Most are yet to fully understand these values.
This has been reflected on the kind of decisions they make regarding the wellbeing of the citizens when it comes to human needs such as the right to decent shelter.
Lip services have been too frequent.
Many leaders are not true to their words and lack foresight.
The 21st Century leadership mindset should distance itself from the various Melanesian stone age ways of seeing and treating other human beings.
It is ignorance and corruption from the top down that have enslaved our own people from their natural rights to employment, housing and justice.
A national urban settlement and housing policy needs to be formulated to set the pathway for PNG citizens to access the right to own homes under the protection and assurances from the State.
Illegal urban settlements can then be addressed and reduced with certainty.
The new government formed after the 2022 general elections must take this issue of illegal urban settlements and the right to decent shelter as matters of priority.

Emmanuel Allen Mungu,
Son of Finschhafen,
Pom