Putting smiles on people’s faces

 MANY Papua New Guineans dream of owning homes in urban centres like Port Moresby and Lae but few can afford the costs associated with home ownership.

A house is usually the most expensive single purchase an individual or family makes. Given the high cost, most individuals do not have enough savings to pay the amount outright. 

In many countries such as PNG, mortgaged loans are available from banks and other financial institutions. If the home owner fails to meet the agreed repayment schedule, the bank or financial institution may repossess the property.

Home ownership gives occupants the right to modify the building and land, protects them from eviction, and creates a right to occupation which can be in­herited. Houses and the land they sit on are expensive, and the combination of mortgage, insurance and maintenance are sometimes greater than monthly rental costs. 

Buildings may gain and lose substantial value due to real estate market fluctuations, and selling a property can take a long time, depending on market conditions. This can make home ownership more constraining if the owner intends to move at a future date.

Traditionally, home-own­ership was encouraged by Western governments be­cause it was thought to help people acquire wealth, encourage savings and promote civic engagement.

The PNG Government, as the employer with the largest workforce in the country, has been promoting home-ownership through its schemes as well as providing rental accommodation for civil servants since independence.

The entity tasked with this role and responsibility has been the National Housing Corporation (formerly National Housing Commission), which is neither a state-owned enterprise nor a fully-fledged government department. 

This rather strange status has in effect starved the corporation of adequate funding to fully implement the Government’s home-ownership schemes. As well, the chronic lack of funding has resulted in the failure by the NHC to fully maintain and upgrade its existing housing and accommodation properties throughout PNG. To add salt to injury, the corporation has been dogged by operational and financial mismanagement for much of its existence.

It was a big breakthrough for the NHC when the O’Neill Government assumed office after the 2012 general election and initiated plans to revive the ailing corporation.

Under a new management headed by acting managing director John Dege, the NHC shifted to a human-oriented focus and began addressing the niggling issues of mismanagement and lack of funding.

The Government appro­ved the corporation’s public investment programme funding of K150 million in 2013, which was rolled out last year and included new housing projects in Madang, Kavieng and Kimbe as well as the Erima hostel project at 6-Mile in the National Capital District.

As part of the programme, the corporation embarked on a two-year operation to carry out major renovation and upgrading of its rundown properties in NCD.

The critical shift in focus by Dege and his management has resulted in the first 400 applications for home ownership titles under the schemes reaching the final stages of transfers to the owners. The decision has been a huge relief for tenants and the corporation, with Dege emphasising that it was only proper for the titles to be given to hard-working civil servants who had been loyal tenants.

“The title issue has been the subject of concern for many years and has been raised in Parliament recently but that has now been resolved and the titles can be transferred. NHC will not deny, deprive nor frustrate anyone from obtaining his or her title. Under my watch, all titles will be transferred to the respective owners,” Dege said.

Dege and his management must be applauded for ensuring that government workers realise their dreams of owning their homes.

The NHC team has wor­ked hard to process more than half of the 800 titles and will need appropriate government funding to complete the job. The onus is on Housing and Urbanisation Minister Paul Isikiel to push for the necessary funds for the corporation to process the remaining titles.

That will put smiles on many more faces of tenants and their families.