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Jakarta Post

Poverty, alienation haunt rusunawa

Participatory: Social housing designs proposed by a community relocated from Pluit Dam in North Jakarta in cooperation with a group of community architects and architecture students from the University of Indonesia

The Jakarta Post
Wed, April 20, 2016

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Poverty, alienation haunt rusunawa

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span class="inline inline-center">Participatory: Social housing designs proposed by a community relocated from Pluit Dam in North Jakarta in cooperation with a group of community architects and architecture students from the University of Indonesia. The city administration has yet to follow up any of the designs.(Courtesy of Arsitek Komunitas Jogja)

The Jakarta administration’s policy of providing low-cost apartments (rusunawa) units to evictees has been lauded by many. However, data from the Jakarta Legal Aid Institute (LBH Jakarta) show that of 113 evictions last year, the resolutions of only 41 involved provision of rusunawa units. Moreover, an investigation by The Jakarta Post’s Corry Elyda and Indra Budiari into a number of rusunawa revealed that getting a unit does not necessarily mean a better life; between having to pay monthly rent, a drop in income and the loss of social capital, many tenants find themselves impoverished.

The East Jakarta rusunawa looks clean and quiet, an apartment complex promising a better life for 500 families evicted August last year from the nearby Kampung Pulo, a densely populated area deemed unsanitary by many Jakartans.

The 16-story towers, white and almost glinting in the capital’s sun, are inhabited by members of the city’s resilient underclass, who face their chronic poverty with a brave face.

However, while Jatinegara Barat Rusunawa provides a clean place to sleep, it offers little in the way of economic activity or social capital for the erstwhile independent residents of a bustling urban kampung.

Rosita, a 37-year-old mother of three, said she had lost her humble assets during the forcible eviction. Rosita now ekes out a living selling chicken-intestine satay she makes at her mother’s home in a kampung some distance from the rusunawa, her own unit unable to host her business.

Deprived of the customers she enjoyed in Kampung Pulo, she no longer sells porridge and grilled chicken.

In the kampung, she said, she and other local women would make and sell snacks in the bustling neighborhood, where money circulated both from residents who had local businesses and those who earned money in other parts of the city.

Children would play among the narrow alleys, their mothers gossiping as they waited for their meatball soup to be served. The menfolk, meanwhile, would sip coffee and discuss current affairs in any space big enough to squeeze in a wooden bench.

The tenants of the rusunawa are the same, but such idyllic scenes are largely absent. “People don’t even keep their doors open anymore, let alone hang out outside,” said Rosita.

Having to pay monthly rent is a heavy burden for the complex’s inhabitants.

Lita Pandiari, a phone credit vendor and neighborhood unit head, said most of the tenants were in arrears in their rent payments. “Most of us have seen our income decrease significantly; we’ve lost all our customers, but still have to pay rent,” she said, sitting despondently on the floor of her apartment.

The second floor of the tower is in fact reserved for vendors; when the evictees first moved in, the floor was packed with around 200 vendors, as smale-scale trade had been the majority occupation of the denizens of Kampung Pulo. Now, however, the floor is home to no more than 10 vendors, most having sought space outside or switched occupation, their neighbors lacking the funds to purchase their goods and custom from outside non-existent.

This loss of income exacerbates the obligation to pay out an average Rp 500,000 (US$38) to Rp 600,000 per month: Rp 300,000 for rent, Rp 100,000 for water and Rp 100,000 for prepaid electricity. In Kampung Pulo, in contrast, residents’ only major such outgoing was electricity bills.

The 10 tenants interviewed by The Jakarta Post all recounted similar stories: falling income, burdensome rent, limited space for production and no market to sell their products.

Here and there: Family members pose for a photo at Jatinegara Barat Rusunawa in East Jakarta last month. The family, evicted from Kampung Pulo last year, had yet to unpack their belongings, as, having fallen behind on their rent, they were expecting to be evicted once more.(JP/Seto Wardhana)
Here and there: Family members pose for a photo at Jatinegara Barat Rusunawa in East Jakarta last month. The family, evicted from Kampung Pulo last year, had yet to unpack their belongings, as, having fallen behind on their rent, they were expecting to be evicted once more.(JP/Seto Wardhana)

The problem is rooted in the design of rusunawa, which fails to take into account the needs of inhabitants. When the city administration evicts residents from a compact and bustling kampung, they take away not only their houses, but also their informal livelihoods and social capital. Rusunawa, with their austere focus on only the basic human needs, are more suited to those working in the formal sector.

People evicted from Pasar Ikan in Luar Batang, North Jakarta, face a similar fate, having been ordered to move to Rawa Bebek Rusunawa in East Jakarta, more than 25 kilometers from their former homes and the sea. Many Pasar Ikan residents are fishermen.

Dozens of families are being crammed into 21-square-meter, kitchenless units designed for single workers. The city, however, has promised to relocate them to more family-appropriate apartments once complete.

Rawa Bebek boasts sparkling-clean elevators and toilets, but the displaced residents are at a loss as to how to make a living at the rusunawa, which is located far from public transportation access.

The same is true of Muara Baru Rusunawa in North Jakarta and Pesakih Rusunawa in West Jakarta, where low-skilled workers have been forced to adapt to a new home that offers little more than a roof over their heads.

Jakarta Public Housing and Administration Building head Ika Lestari Aji acknowledged that evictees’ income dropped upon moving to rusunawa, but argued that this was compensated by other benefits, such as guaranteed Jakarta Smart Cards (KJP) and Jakarta Health Cards (KJS), free school buses, free Transjakarta bus travel and free childcare services.

Ika said the city desired ideally to accommodate evictee’s needs. “However, sometimes we don’t have time, because evictions happen so fast,” she said.

 “We cannot, for example, provide 200 selling spaces just because all of them want to work as vendors. It would ruin the aesthetic of the rusunawa.”

The agency head said she could also not tolerate failure to pay rent. “They need to be disciplined. They should realize that many people actually want to live in rusunawa,” she said, countering that her agency could make allowances in certain situations.

Kamil Muhammad, an architect at d-associates and cofounder of Architectes Sans Frontières Indonesia, argued that it was not the design of the building that mattered to residents, but whether it could cater to their needs.

“The biggest mistake of the city administration is designing the apartments only for sleeping. Residents who live in the informal sector use their homes also for working or doing business.

“As their houses are small, the street becomes their living room. That’s why people are so fond of hanging out on the street,” he said.

Kamil said that ideally rusunawa for people in the informal sector should be no more than six storeys.

The higher the floor, the more money tenants have to spend, he said, citing as an example residents of Muara Baru Rusunawa, who are forced to pay more for delivery of clean water if they live higher up.

Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) economist Latif Adam said that it was better to accommodate the needs of residents rather than trying to change their mindsets.

“Skill-training focuses on supply, while we need to focus on demand,” he said, noting that, for example, it was pointless training residents to sew if there was no demand for sewing services.

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