The high demand for housing services came at the forefront of the challenges facing the new government, which prompted it to pledge to find housing alternatives for about 40% of the housing applications with the Public Authority for Housing Welfare, which reached about 91 thousand applications at the end of last November through the approval of a number of laws, including:
— A draft law to provide housing lands and involve the private sector in housing projects
— A draft law on real estate financing for private housing
— A draft law establishing public joint-stock companies to build residential cities
— Establishing a Land Regulatory Authority
According to a study carried out by the National Center for Development Research, a local Arabic daily indicated that the average income of an employee is 1,320 dinars per month, and the average rental value of housing in residential areas ranges between 550 and 800 dinars, meaning that the rent accounts for about 51% of the salary.
And she indicated that the increase in the number of applicants requesting the right to housing care is due to the lack of opportunities to obtain housing outside the scope of the housing care institution at a cost that enables the citizen to buy his own home, as the level of housing prices exceeds the capabilities of the citizen.
The study identified a number of reasons behind the housing crisis, including:
— The rise in housing prices and rents: the private housing sector in Kuwait suffers from a lack of supply and an increase in demand, which led to a significant increase in prices during the past years.
— High Land Prices: the reason behind the high land prices is due to the scarcity of ownership due to the state monopoly of about 90% of the land.
— Poor management of the problem: The housing problem lies in neglect. Despite the availability of all potentials of land and money, the government’s handling of the issue caused a slowdown in the growth of the available supply of land and houses, in a way that is not commensurate with the increase in demand for units and the lack of coordination and integration between the bodies and institutions responsible for housing impedes the implementation of housing plans and caused delays in the design and implementation of many housing projects as a result of the multiplicity and overlapping of responsibilities and specializations between the authorities.
— The absence of the private sector: a number of laws prevent the private sector from playing its role in resolving the housing crisis due to the scarcity of land available for development outside the scope of the housing welfare system.
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