Minister of Housing and Settlement Areas (PKP) Maruarar Sirait spoke out about the draft regulation of the Minister of PKP regarding changes to the provisions on the size of subsidized houses. Ara – Maruarar's nickname, stated that he received criticism and suggestions for the draft regulation.
Ara conveyed this after the issue of reducing the size of subsidized houses surfaced. In the draft Decree of the Minister of PKP Number/KPTS/M/2025, the Ministry of PKP plans to reduce the land area to a minimum of 25 square meters and the building area to a minimum of 18 square meters.
The land area and building area of subsidized houses are currently regulated in the Decree of the Minister of Public Works and Public Housing (Kepmen PUPR) Number 689/KPTS/M/2023.
In this policy, the land area is set at a minimum of 60 square meters and a maximum of 200 square meters. Meanwhile, the building area is set at a minimum of 21 square meters to 36 square meters.
Regarding the discourse on reducing the area of land and buildings for subsidized houses, Ara said the draft was drafted to encourage the construction of subsidized houses in urban areas. "In urban areas, the available land is very limited," said Ara through an official statement on Monday, June 2, 2025.
Therefore, according to him, creativity in house designs is needed from developers so that consumers have more choices of places to live in urban areas.
Ara said that amidst limited land, subsidized houses can be built on floors. In addition to being a way out of the problem of limited land, according to him, subsidized houses also have the opportunity to have new designs. "How can we lose to problems? The house designs have always been the same. We make good designs," said the Gerindra Party politician.
Meanwhile, Deputy Minister of PKP Fahri Hamzah said that the standards for subsidized houses must follow the Sustainable Development Goals or SDGs standards. The standard is in the form of a minimum standard area of 7.2 square meters for each person.
"Type 40 is already very minimal. The standard must be SDGs," said Fahri when met by reporters at the Ministry of Finance complex, Monday, June 2, 2025. "It will definitely be evaluated (draft of the Minister of PKP Decree Number/KPTS/M/2025)."