PUBLISHED : 3 Oct 2023 at 07:31
Activists are urging City Hall to work out a permanent solution to the housing problems facing the capital’s underprivileged residents.
Bangkok governor Chadchart Sittipunt was pressed by activists from the Four Regions Slum Network during a protest at Lan Khon Muang Plaza on Monday to quickly act to increase the availability of affordable housing for the city’s low-income earners.
The activists held the rally to mark World Habitat Day, which falls on the first Monday of October each year. They presented a list of demands to the governor, chief of which was for the city to acquire more land for public housing projects.
They urged the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) to use its land or ask other state agencies to use theirs to build more public housing that would be allocated through the Ban Mun Kong scheme for low-income earners.
Mr Chadchart promised to look into their suggestion. However, he noted the BMA does not own vast tracts of land that could be turned into a housing project. Instead, he said, low-income earners could be offered rent support while the government works towards making them financially independent.
He noted that in some areas where low-income earners are given cheap accommodation, authorities have noted a spike in complaints from local residents. Mr Chadchart stopped short of saying what the complaints were about, though he said the problems “will be taken care of soon”.
The network also urged the BMA to expand access to its housing support schemes. First, the group said, it should launch a survey to identify which communities need such support the most.
To support the schemes, the residents of recipient communities should be charged a housing tax, it said.
Mr Chadchart said all city residents, no matter where they live, are entitled to access basic utilities and welfare services.
Ideally, the governor said, people shouldn’t live too far away from their jobs to keep living costs at a minimum.
The BMA will find a way to improve their standard of living, he said.
