DKI Provincial Government Extends Free Rental For Rusunawa Until June 2024

Illustration. A number of elementary school students played in the Rusunawa Marunda area, Jakarta, Tuesday, September 3, 2019. (ANTARA-M Risyal Hidayat)

JAKARTA - The DKI Jakarta Provincial Government has extended the relaxation period for the rental fee for simple rental flats (rusunawa) in the form of reducing rental fees until mid-2024.

The freeness of rent levies for flats has been running since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. The DKI Provincial Government had planned to revoke the relaxation this December, before finally deciding to postpone the withdrawal of rusunawa rental fees.

Acting Head (Plt) Head of the DKI Jakarta Public Housing and Settlement Area Office, Afan Adriansyah, said that the delay in levies had been approved by the Acting Governor of DKI Jakarta Heru Budi Hartono.

"In principle, the Governor supports the postponement of rental fees from January to June, that's clear," Afan said in his statement, quoted on Tuesday, December 26.

Meanwhile, Chairman of Commission D of the DKI Jakarta DPRD, Ida Mahampang, sees that an extension of the policy of reducing rental costs is needed at this time. This is because there are still many residents of the flat who have not been able to recover their economic conditions after the COVID-19 pandemic.

So, with this new decision, Ida ensures that the balance of the residents who have been automatically interested in payment in December 2023 will be diverted for payment in July 2024.

"The result of his decision is that for residents of Rusunawa throughout DKI Jakarta who have not been published for now there is no need to pay, while those who have been published (automaticly cut from the account) will be included as a payment in July," said Ida.

For information, during the pandemic, former DKI Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan provided relief on the cost of rent for low-income people (MBR) living in flats during the COVID-19 pandemic.

This retribution tariff relief policy is regulated in DKI Governor Regulation Number 61 of 2020 concerning the Provision of Regional Retribution Relief and/or Elimination of Administrative Sanctions for Mandatory Retribution Affected by COVID-19 National Disasters.

Rusunawa residents are released in rental fees starting from April 13 until the central government ends the determination of COVID-19 as a national disaster. However, the reduction of flat rental does not include other cost burdens, such as water and electricity usage bills.

The reason for the DKI Provincial Government to provide exemptions from Rusunawa rental costs is to reduce the living expenses of residents due to the COVID-19 pandemic whose purchasing power has weakened due to the PSBB regulations. As a result, many residents are in arrears in flat rental costs.

Then, the DKI Provincial Government had again collected the flat rental rate which refers to the 2018 tariff in accordance with Governor Regulation Number 55 of 2018 concerning Adjustment of Housing Service Retribution Tariffs. However, the collection of levies for the flat was again postponed for the next six months.