The Housing Bureau (IH) revealed in a statement yesterday that about 90 percent of the households living in social housing units are totally exempted from paying their monthly rental fees for a year as their monthly incomes are lower than the official monthly maximum income.
The statement noted that social rental housing households can be exempted from paying a monthly rental fee of up to 2,000 patacas.
The monthly rental fee a social rental housing household pays to the government is determined by a number of factors such as the number of members of the household and the household’s total income.
Yesterday’s statement said that among the currently 13,245 social rental housing households in Macau, 12,684 – or 95.8 percent – have a monthly income lower than the official monthly maximum income level, because of which they are exempted for one year from paying a monthly rental fee of up to 2,000 patacas.
The statement said that after the exemptions capped at 2,000 patacas per month, about 90 percent of the total number of the social rental housing households do not need to pay their monthly rental fees for a year.
Currently, the household monthly income maximum limit, in order to be eligible to apply to rent a social housing unit, amounts to 12,750 patacas for a one-person household and 19,270 patacas for a two-person household, while for a household with seven members or more, the monthly income shall not exceed 37,300 patacas.
According to the current new social housing law – which took effect last year, applications for social housing units can be made by eligible residents at any time, unlike previously when they could only submit their applications each time the government launched a new round of applications for social housing units.
Only permanent residents can apply to rent a social housing flat. An individual applicant for a social housing unit must be aged at least 23, while the representative of a household applying for a social housing unit must be at least 18 years old.
This artist’s rendition released by the Housing Bureau (IH) yesterday shows the future social rental housing estate that is under construction on the plot of the former CEM power station in Avenida de Venceslau de Morais. The project’s foundation work is slated to be completed at the end of this year. The government is now inviting bids for building the main structure of the project, which is expected to be completed in 2024.
