Public Housing Policy

Figure 5: The legal framework of the study

Source: Various sources such as the PNG Constitution, Land Act 1996 and Vision 2050

3.3. Background of Public Housing Schemes in PNG

The colonial government has encouraged housing during the pre-independent era for all the field employees in the country by the provision of institutional housing to them in the government centers now known as the towns, cities and district headquarters (Higgins and Kumar, 1983). Those who were recruited from the rural villages were sent back to their respective homes or villages at the end of their assigned tasks in the government centers whilst institutional accommodation was provided for those in the fields. The need for housing has been recognised

The department was established primarily to administer the accommodation of all the government employees (public servants now), develop the housing stock and manage the houses on behalf of the colonial administration (Higgins & Kumar, 1983). The employees were those people who were a vital resource to the development of the government centers (most are provincial centers now) and patrol posts (most are district centers now) throughout the country. Furthermore, these workers especially the expatriates were supervisors who supervised all the government services which were introduced into the country that time as PNG did not have the skills and knowledge (Higgins & Kumar, 1983). The Department of National Housing started the construction of two types of accommodation for these employees which commenced the constructions in the late 1950s and the early 1960s (Paulisbo, 2013). These workers were housed under two categories which

This scheme was introduced during the colonial era around the 1960s whereby the National Housing Commission provided the public servants or the government employees with the building materials and the land. The employees were then allocated state land to build their homes throughout the country (Paulisbo, 2013). According to Paulisbo (2013), another scheme introduced in the late 1960s and early 1970s under the colonial administration was the rental purchase scheme. This scheme was introduced primarily for the government employees to be accommodated in affordable homes after the National Housing Commission constructed the low cost fibro houses. The approval for this scheme was through the NEC Decision 331/81 in November of 1981. This scheme gave the opportunity for the tenants to rent and purchase simultaneously after in rental for a term for example; 15 years. With this scheme the purchasers were required to sign a contract for sale and transfer as well as a mortgage deed which has to be registered at the Department of Lands and Physical Planning Headquarters, Port Moresby (Paulisbo,