The Affordable Housing Conference 2016 that took place at the International Business Center in Yangon on the 17th September was a first of its kind for the city and one that will be repeated very soon if the positive reception is anything to go by.

According to the ‘Affordable Housing Conference” an affordable house is anywhere between U$30,000~U$150,000(40 million kyats~200 million kyats). But in that same conference the UN Habitat specialist announced that the medium wages in Myanmar is 200,000kyats per month. According to these figures the ‘Affordable House’ is not affordable to the vast majority of the working class in Myanmar.

The Government & CBHC Bank will give housing loans to working people if they open an account with the Bank. The Bank will loan 20 million kyats for 10 years with interest.

So, let’s do the maths.. if a person borrows 20 million kyats for 10 years the repayment ‘WITHOUT’ interest will be 20,000,000 / 10yrs = 2,000,000 / 12months = 166,670 kyats a month for repayment only without interest.

So, an average Myanmar citizen working for 200,000 kyats per month will need to payback 166,670 kyats a month for the loan before interest. This is NOT a solution to the problem.

What is the real problem?

1.        What is the actual problem with affordable housing?

2.       How to actually solve this problem?

3.        Is this the only problem? What are other problems?

What is the ANSWER?

1.        Affordable housing until now is not affordable and hence is not a solution.

2.       Actually build livable houses that are affordable.

3.        There is one other major problem that quietly sits in the background and everyone knows it but does not address it. “MONEY”. Where does the money come from?

Answer: Create a fund to pay for the real affordable houses for the working class people.

Solution

How to create a fund to pay for the affordable houses?

500 Kyats !!!

Yes, 500kyats all you need.

The money comes from the people themselves. Myanmar people have always been the ones who fought the war, assisted in natural disasters and made donations for the welfare of others who are in need. This core Myanmar Buddhist ideology of donation to help others is the ‘KEY’ to affordable housing in Myanmar.

First, create a national donation system to collect just 500 kyats per month per working person from all industries. Myanmar has 56 million people with approximately 3o million work force.

So, 30,000,000 x 500kyats = 15,000,000,000kyats per month(15 billion)

15 billion kyats x 12months = 180 billion kyats per year x 5 years = 900 billion kyats.

A low cost apartment building consisting of 6 apartments per floor x 5 floors to house 30 families can be built under 20 million kyats per apartment or 600 million for a building with 30 apartments. That means with 15 billion kyats, 60 apartments can be built per month. That is 30 apartment buildings per year which is 900 apartments and 4,500 apartments in 5 years.

That is 9,000 families earning 200,000 kyats a month into their own homes in 10 years with repayments of 500kyats a month. That’s affordable housing!!!

Secondly, expand this program to fund the affordable housing market for the jobless and homeless to live in a home of their own. A much more cost effective housing system is available in a container housing system. Technology has improved exponentially in the container housing system and has become a very cost effective housing platform for the homeless.

Conclusion

​Myanmar people’s core Buddhist ideology and their willingness for making donation will put the homeless into homes.

Director of Treasure Triangle Co., LTD. is being interviewed in Affordable Housing Conference 2016