Despite the government’s initiative in providing affordable land and housing in PNG, access to affordable housing in urban centres is still disastrous.
For this reason, Lewis Iwong, a research project officer under the Informal Economy Research Program at the PNG National Research Institute, took the lead in conducting a three-day survey to identify the challenges faced in private rental homes, particularly within residential areas.
Iwong has also expressed concerns on how specific groups of people are often not catered for under these initiatives. One such group would be the new graduates. For graduates who are usually going through a stage of transition, they cannot afford to get proper accommodation as most are still in the stage of trying to establish themselves.
This project then not only aims at identifying this group and private rental home owners but it also tries to identify ways in which the government can better assist both groups.
The survey commenced on Saturday 15th and ended on Monday 17th April.
Iwong was assisted by less than 5 research assistants to conduct interviews with 20 landlords and more than 20 tenants of private rental homes, particularly in the Ensisi valley, during the Easter weekend.
The results of the survey will be used to produce an issue paper and made available on NRI’s official website.
(A tenant being interviewed)