Government Needs Fundamental Evaluation of People's Housing Policy

The government needs to promptly conduct a fundamental evaluation of the direction of national housing policy. This was stated by Housing Observer and Member of the Housing Expertise Group at the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB), Mohammad Jehansyah Siregar. So far, the absence of public housing and self-help housing programmes has made market mechanisms the sole determinant of development direction. “It’s not just about the physical buildings, but also integrating transportation that connects housing with public transport. Also, mixing various economic classes in one area to avoid the formation of slums or exclusive elite areas,” said Jehansyah to Kompas.com, quoted on Sunday (26/04/2026). Meanwhile, the 3 Million Houses programme launched by President Prabowo Subianto through the Ministry of Housing and Settlement Areas (PKP) is assessed as still running without a clear system. Jehansyah Siregar assesses that housing development so far has only chased project quantities without considering the quality of an integrated urban system, let alone the social life of the community. “Laissez-faire or laissez-faire in housing and urban areas has proven to result in urban social and economic segregation,” said Jehansyah. This is because of the strong dominance of the property business, which results in enclave urbanism in the form of pockets of poverty on one side and fortresses of settlements for the rich on the other. In line with this condition, city and regional infrastructure is still built partially. Public transport networks and housing needs centres for the people are not synchronised because they follow property business interests. In line with this, fulfilling people’s housing needs is closely related to land availability. Based on data from the Ministry of PKP, currently there are 13.43 million families who do not have houses and 29.93 million families live in Unfit Houses (RTLH). To meet these needs, Jehansyah said the government needs to control state lands in activity centres for affordable housing integrated into the city structure in 10 metropolitan cities.