How the government cope with squatter's problem / Nor 'Adilah Mohamed Azahar

Housing has always been a major problem in cities all over the world including Malaysia. Owing to shortage and high prices of houses as well as very expensive rentals, large number of people cannot afford them and so have been forced to build houses in squatter areas. Although initially meant to be temporary, these often ultimately become their permanent homes. The majority of the squatters is from lower or lowers middle income groups. They used to be mainly local people, but now there are a number of squatter settlements that have been opened up by migrants, both legal and illegal. The highest concentrations of squatters are in the biggest towns, which also serve as their state capitals. For Selangor, there are concentrated in Klang and Petaling Jaya districts, for the Federal Territory in Kuala Lumpur, for Perak in Ipoh, for Johor in Johor Bahru, and for Sabah in Kota Kinabalu. Kuala Lumpur, Petaling Jaya and Klang are included in what is often referred to as the Klang Valley, and it is in this valley that we have the highest concentration of squatters. This report will stated about the squatter settlements at Kuala Lumpur, Shah Alam and Petaling Jaya which involving the strategies used by the Local Authorities of the areas. There will be recommendation at the end of the report to improve the work carried out by the Local Authorities and for further study.