Un Praises Thai Social Housing Schemes

[george]

UN praises Thai social housing schemes

BANGKOK: -- The director of the United Nations Human Settlement Programme (UNCHS) has praised the Thai government for its schemes to provide inexpensive housing to people on low incomes, Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra revealed today.

Speaking on his weekly radio address Saturday morning, the prime minister, who today announced plans to provide 1.4 million homes over the next 3-4 years, noted: "People who have homes and people who don't have homes feel differently. We will regard this as an important issue. I can guarantee that the world will look at Thailand to see our courage in successfully providing homes for the poor".

Mr. Thaksin said that a social housing scheme in Bon Kai district of Bangkok's Klong Toey area had recently been visited by the UNCHS director, who had praised its success and had said that the scheme should be used as a prototype for similar projects abroad.

The Thai government currently offers three related social housing schemes.

'Secure housing' is constructed on former slum land, with the residents helping administer the housing.

'Low-cost housing' is constructed by the National Housing Authority (NHA), which offers low mortgage rates.

'Knock-down houses' can be built cheaply by existing land owners within the space of a few days, for as little as Bt100,000.

Mr. Thaksin said that home ownership helped foster a sense of fiscal responsibility, as well as leading to better morale among the public and financial security.

--TNa 2005-06-04