HIBAPRESS – W.M.A.
The Secretary of State in charge of Housing, Adeeb Ben Ibrahim, stated on Monday in the House of Representatives that the number of families that have benefited from the "Cities Without Slums" program reached, as of last December 31, a total of 382,176 families, noting the announcement of 62 cities and urban centers without slums.
The Secretary of State added, in response to a verbal question about "the evaluation of the national program Cities Without Slums", that the government adopted a new approach to combating inadequate housing during the current term, by moving from the logic of rehousing to resettlement, highlighting that, within the framework of the five-year program 2024-2028, the data of 120,000 families has been updated nationwide, without excluding any city. The government official pointed out the involvement of the private sector and real estate developers in this project, with the aim of providing housing units whose cost is less than 300,000 dirhams, clarifying that the financial contribution borne by the beneficiary does not exceed, in some cases, 100,000 dirhams. He affirmed that the five-year program is expected to be completed at the end of 2027 or the beginning of 2028, with the establishment of follow-up mechanisms to avoid the return of slum housing phenomena in the future. On the other hand, and in response to a question about "the rise in real estate and rental prices", Mr. Ben Ibrahim affirmed that this increase is mainly due to the increase in demand against the limited supply, especially in major cities that are experiencing strong attractiveness in terms of job opportunities and the availability of services, in light of the scarcity of land within these cities and the high cost of acquiring it. He added that the entry of investors who buy real estate for commercial rent or resale also contributes to the rise in real estate prices, which automatically reflects on the cost of rent. He pointed out that the market is witnessing, in addition to that, an expansion of the phenomenon of temporary rent through specialized platforms, highlighting that this transformation has made part of the housing supply heading towards this pattern. The Secretary of State indicated that a study is underway, aiming to establish a formula for residential rent at a price that is about 20 percent less than current market prices, with the possibility of calculating part of the rent as installments to acquire the dwelling at the end of the contract period, stressing that the preliminary results of this study will be issued next March.
