Jakarta, Aug. 9 -- Indonesian Minister of Housing and Settlement Areas Maruarar Sirait has proposed setting a subsidized housing quota of 500,000 units for 2026 to help reduce the country's housing backlog of 9.9 million units.

"I hope it will be approved. Of course, I do not have the authority to decide, but I have submitted an open proposal in a cabinet meeting," he said in Jakarta on Friday.

Sirait said the initiative builds on the government's subsidized public housing credit scheme, provided through the Housing Financing Liquidity Facility (FLPP), which supports the target of building and renovating 3 million homes.

The program offers loans with a 5 percent interest rate - far below the 12 percent for commercial housing - and requ...