Affordable housing shortage reaches crisis levels in Iraq

09 October 2013

About two million new homes estimated to be required by 2017

Despite the launch of an affordable housing programme in 2010, Iraq has made little progress in addressing its affordable housing shortage, according to Peter Farquharson, a former consultant for the UN-Habitat Iraq Programme.

Speaking at the Cityscape Global conference held in Dubai on 9 October, Farquharson said that due to ongoing violence in Iraq, 4.7 million people have left their homes and 1.6 million have been internally displaced.

As a result, an estimated 2 million homes need to be built by 2017 to meet demand. To add to the problem, only a third of the country’s housing units are connected to primary services.

“The problem in Iraq is not a housing shortage, it is a housing crisis,” he said.

To face the various challenges imposed by the shortage, the government published the Iraq National Housing Policy in 2010, as a roadmap to institutional and regulatory reform in order to achieve decent housing for all citizens.

However, even though the authorities have identified affordable housing as a priority, shortages of buildable land and available finance have hampered efforts to address the situation.

“There is no mechanism for low-income earners in Iraq to obtain housing,” said Farquharson. “The country remains a huge investment risk and banks are nervous to lend. At the same time, they just don’t have the money and are really undercapitalised.”

According to Farquharson, a few affordable housing schemes have been launched, but progress has been slow. “The government’s plan was a quantum leap forward, but implementing it will be a real challenge,” he said.

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