The eligibility regulations to apply for a residential unit in the social housing programme prevents 50% of the lowest-income Egyptian from qualifying, the Egyptian Initiative for personal Rights (EIPR) in a report published in April.
In January, the government announced several regulations that make citizens eligible to apply for owning and renting units. The regulations stated that owning an apartment requires a maximum family income of EGP 40,000 per year, around 10% of Egyptians, and a minimum income of EGP 23,040 a year. For renting a residential unit, the family’s maximum income was set at EGP 18,000 a year.
According to the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics’ (CAPMAS) 2012/2013 Income, Expenditure and Consumption report, the top 10% of Egyptians took in an average yearly income of EGP 42,789, while the minimum income of a middle class family stood at EGP 23,097.
The EIPR report indicated that the maximum income criterion excludes the income of the low and lowest income categories of Egyptian families.
In order to be eligible to rent a house, families must have a maximum income of EGP 18,000 a year. The rent for the residential units is EGP 225 a month. The EIPR report illustrated that this exceeds 14% of the expenditure of the Egyptian families who belong to the poorest classes.
Last week, the Minister of Housing, Utilities and Urban Development Mostafa Madbouly announced that 50,000 residential units will begin accepting reservations in mid-April. Housing Minister Mostafa Madbouly said the construction would take up to one year.
The government announced the Social Housing Programme in July 2012. The national project is expected to provide 1m residential units. Construction was projected to last five years, from fiscal year (FY) 2012/2013 to FY 2016/2017, with an average of 200,000 units being constructed per year.
