Housing Policies And Practices For Sustainable Urban Development- Kingdom Of Bahrain

To respond to these challenges, the government has requested the Ministry of Housing to undertake a set of reform measures, as follows:

1. Enhancing housing policies;
2. Review and amend the housing eligibility criteria and conditions, and the mechanisms and provisions required to regulate residential housing subsidy;
3. Determine the supply of  housing units that the sector need to provide annually;
4. Identify financing options for the purchase or construction of housing units;
5. Reduce the waiting time by accelerating the pace of the provision of housing units;
6. Strengthen the private sector's role in the provision of social housing projects and build a genuine and effective partnership with the private sector to implement housing projects, as well as develop a programme for the purchase of ready-made units from the private sector;
7. Cooperate with the private sector to make sure that the latest technologies and techniques are used to provide social housing;
8. Facilitate citizens' access to sufficient funding for home ownership;
9. Continue to implement the Mazaya programme to assist citizens on the Ministry of Housing's waiting list in obtaining financing from a bank for the purchase of housing units offered by the private sector;
10. Improve and develop the Mazaya programme and ensure that it includes the most key principles in the real estate mortgage system in order to create an integrated programme aimed at providing maximum financial support for citizens;
11. Continue to provide housing allowance for those that require this.