Developing countries including Malaysia have begun to comprehend the need for affordable and sustainable housing development. The majority of the population is still aspiring for a comfortable, safe, and reasonably priced house. Households in the low- middle-income range face difficulties to find housing that can satisfy their needs and budget. Unfortunately, most of the housing development programs are considering affordability rather than sustainable aspects. Furthermore, developers are more interested in profit and neglect sustainability issues. Thus, the aim of this paper is to review the challenges in integrating affordable housing and sustainable practices in Malaysia.

In response to Malaysia’s government’s effort to provide an equal access to affordable housing with sustainable approaches for every Malaysian, as manifested in the Eleventh National Plan (2016-2020), the needs of integrating affordable and sustainable practices in housing development seems vital. This poses a critical challenge to effective governance in making housing affordable and sustainable in order to enhance their quality of life. However, there is an argument between the approach of affordable housing and sustainable development. Many developed and developing countries view sustainable housing development as unaffordable for low-middle income households. Integrating sustainable aspects in providing affordable housing are quite questionable and challenging. Failure to improve housing affordability will affect long- term economic development, urban development fatality rate and intergenerational equity.