Bahrain: A move to ban thousands of social housing applicants from getting new homes in Muharraq has been branded “catastrophic” by a senior government official.
The Muharraq Municipal Council yesterday voted to reserve new government housing units in the governorate for applicants who are from the area.
However, Housing Ministry assistant under-secretary for housing projects Samy Buhazaa said authorities would seek to overturn the decision, warning it could undermine efforts to reduce housing waiting lists nationwide.
“The move is catastrophic and will harm the ministry’s plans to provide government homes for families, as it limits our ability to give homes to those whose governorates will not see projects – or could see only small projects due to the unavailability of space,” he said.
“We need to ensure fairness and this decision is a social injustice.
“We will work to have the decision revoked or ignored.”
He said the decision would allow new housing applicants in Muharraq to leapfrog others elsewhere who had been waiting for decades.
“We can’t give new homes to Muharraq residents who have been waiting for just a few years, while applicants from the Capital Governorate, for example Hoora and Gudaibiya, have been waiting for 23 years,” he said.
He explained that applicants from densely populated urban areas outside Muharraq, where there was no room for new social housing developments, had to relocate if they were to move into a government home.
“It (the council’s decision) will also mean that we limit the construction of homes in each governorate to the numbers actually needed,” said Mr Buhazaa.
“It is a waste of resources. We could construct more homes (in Muharraq), but this decision will lead to more families getting stuck on waiting lists.”
There are between 55,000 and 60,000 applications for social housing units.
In 2014 the government launched an initiative to build 45,000 homes by 2022, with 25,000 units due for completion by the end of 2018.
Mr Buhazaa said the Housing Ministry had already discussed plans with the council to ensure that Muharraq residents, whose properties were dilapidated, received new home in the governorate.
However, he said the council had failed to submit lists of properties in need of demolition – despite designs being prepared and a budget allocated.
He added the ministry had already been pressured into fast-tracking some housing applications from people in Muharraq.
“We were forced in some cases to give recent applicants homes despite others being on the waiting lists due to pressure from MPs and municipal councillors, besides daily demonstrations by families in front of the ministry’s headquarters in the Diplomatic Area with threats to destroy the new building if we don’t comply,” said Mr Buhazaa.
However, Muharraq Municipal Council chairman Mohammed Al Sinan defended the council’s decision yesterday.
“We have to protect the identity of each governorate,” he said. “It is illogical to mix up families, saying Bahrain is one family, because it damages the social fabric.
“Muharraq residents are Muharraq residents – we can’t move them to new housing in other governorates and replace them with people from different areas, just because they have been waiting for a year or two longer.
“We agree that families who have waited the longest should be given homes, but they should be prioritised in projects that are happening in their areas, unless there are none.
“But even in this case they should be given homes in new developments that are closest to them.”
mohammed@gdn.com.bh
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