Dear Editor,
There has been great improvement in our housing programme over the years but we still have far to go. The emphasis has been put on the acquisition of house lots and the building of houses with loans from our banking institutions. This is commendable, but this arrangement is more suited to persons with families and we must remember there are other persons with peculiar circumstances who ought to be taken into account.
What about an individual with or without a partner? I refer to retirees who may or may not have children but prefer to live with a spouse or partner. These individuals may not be interested in owning a house because of the financial burden involved.
This leads us to the proposal of constructing condominiums or apartment buildings by government or private investors at affordable prices for rental. This is not an impossible proposition, because it happens in other countries of the world and they have millions of inhabitants to cater for, much less we with our handful of people. Of course there are always advertisements in the media of places to rent, but some are unaffordable and are owned by rapacious landlords.
We cannot provide for our poor and senior citizens like Britain, Canada and the USA, but we can do more than we are doing. Let us not forget the building of quality-type nursing homes!
Yours faithfully,
Malcolm Clarke
