A/HRC/44/40/Add.1 just 20.9 per cent of the housing stock was low cost and it accounted for only 7.4 per cent of new housing in 2017.73 48. Social housing programmes often do not benefit the intended target groups owing to the inability of people in the bottom 40 per cent to qualify for loans, a shortage of affordable units and inefficient low-cost housing distribution systems.74 Living conditions are poor for many, with 11 per cent of houses in Kelantan and in Sabah and 4.4 per cent in Sarawak classified as dilapidated or deteriorating.75 VI. Civil and political rights of people in poverty 49. Poor people in Malaysia suffer disproportionate violations of their civil and political rights. Access to legal aid is limited both by the scope of cases covered and by resource constraints. The Special Rapporteur spoke with prisoners who said they had never met with a lawyer or only met one for a few minutes on the day of a legal proceeding. Vulnerable non-citizens, including stateless people and refugees, are not able to access the legal aid provided under the Legal Aid Act.76 When asked about the socioeconomic background of the people in prison, Home Affairs officials said they did not collect data, but that “most of them are low-income”. 50. Poverty is in effect criminalized by the Destitute Persons Act, which allows authorities to take into their charge people deemed destitute and penalizes resistance with up to three months’ imprisonment.77 According to civil society groups, the Act has been used to detain homeless people without trial.78 The Government stated in its reply to the present report that “in order to control the vagrancy, any person who refuses to be taken or offers any resistance will be charged under section 11 and on conviction, will be sent to a welfare home or to imprisonment”. Various post-conviction consequences, such as barriers to educational loans and civil service jobs, as well as discrimination by employers against people with criminal records, mean that people who have been imprisoned have fewer education and work opportunities.79 51. The Government should improve access to legal aid, including in civil matters. It should conduct a thorough analysis of the socioeconomic background of prisoners, with a view to identifying policies that will break the link between poverty and incarceration. It should also build on existing programmes that promote access to post-release employment opportunities, including by expunging criminal records for minor offences. VII. Populations of concern Indigenous peoples 52. Some 13 per cent of the population is indigenous, including an estimated 70.5 per cent of the 2.7 million population of Sarawak, 58.6 per cent of the roughly 3.8 million population of Sabah and about 0.7 per cent in Peninsular Malaysia. 80 Official statistics obscure poverty among indigenous peoples by combining outcomes for indigenous peoples and Malays within the umbrella Bumiputera category. Outdated figures from a decade ago, the most recent available, reveal indigenous poverty rates that vastly exceed national 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 Department of Statistics, “Social statistics bulletin” (2018), pp. 10 and 32. Thean Lee Cheng, “PR1MA may be dissolved,” The Star, 3 May 2019. Department of Statistics, Household Income and Basic Amenities Survey Report 2016, p. 92. Malaysia, Legal Aid (Amendment) Act 2017, section 2a. Destitute Persons Act 1977, arts. 2–3 and 11. D. Kanyakumari, “NGOs urge for abolishment of Destitute Persons Act”, The Star Online, 8 July 2014. Confidential NGO submission to the Special Rapporteur. International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs, The Indigenous World 2019, p. 275. 11