As guaranteed under Indonesia’s Constitution, every Indonesian citizen is entitled to live a prosperous life.[1] This includes the right to obtain proper housing, which is classified as a primary human need, pursuant to Article 19 of Law No. 1 of 2011 on Housing and Residential Areas (“Housing Law”). The right to adequate housing is also recognized as a human right under Article 40 of Law No. 39 of 1999 on Human Rights.
 
Nevertheless, a number of obstacles still have to be dealt with in order to fully realize this ideal of human welfare. The Indonesian Bureau of Statistics (Badan Pusat Statistik) recently observed that there is currently a sizeable housing problem in the country. Indeed, there has been a huge housing shortfall in recent years, ranging from 23.6 million units in 2010 to 17.2 million units in 2014.[2] Meanwhile, a rise in demand for housing has seen house prices spike by 20% from the previous 10% to 15% annual growth rate. Sadly, these increases are largely incompatible with the general income levels of Indonesian society.[3]
 
In a bid to overcome this regrettable state of affairs, the government is continuing to improve its housing-financing programs in order to ensure the long-term availability of affordable housing in Indonesia.[4] One of the ways put forward to make this happen involves the reorganization of the financing system for public-housing savings: a type of saving which may be withdrawn under certain conditions and utilized for the purposes of financing housing, whether this involves owning, building or renovating a domicile.[5]
 
Public-housing savings are actually nothing new in this country. In fact, this kind of savings scheme was previously implemented for use by civil servants, even before the Housing Law was passed, and was introduced through Presidential Decree No. 14 of 1993 on Public-House Savings for Civil Servants (“1993 Decree”).[6]
 
However, this regulation obviously only covered the country’s civil servants, and not all of its citizens. Keenly aware of this limitation, the House of Representatives (House) subsequently initiated the Draft Bill on Public-Housing Savings (“Draft Bill”)[7], which sought to expand housing-savings coverage and hopefully realize the Indonesian Constitution’s goal of providing a prosperous life for all of the country's citizens. Additionally, Indonesia's Housing Law also stipulated that provisions on public-housing savings should be regulated under a legal instrument at the level of the law.[8]
 
A Draft Bill was finally proposed in June 2015, along with its Academic Script. Not long after this, the 2016 National Legislation Program was initiated and, on 23 February 2016, the House passed the Draft Bill on Public-Housing Savings (“Bill”). The Bill is currently waiting to be registered in the State Gazette, which it should be within 30 days of its passing date.[9]