Kuwaitis Get More Rent Allowances Than It Costs To Build A City

According to the latest statistics issued by the Public Authority for Housing Welfare, the number of housing requests reached 94,379 as of December 2021. According to Al-Rai daily, the state pays KD 14.15 million per month as rent allowance, set at KD 150, or about KD 169.8 million per year.

KD 169.8 million is about a quarter (1.24 times) more than the cost of building a city such as South Saad Al-Abdullah City, which was about KD 136.6 million. A city planned for completion in 2029 will include 30,000 units for beneficiaries of residential care, as well as spaces for non-residential functions.

According to the calculation, the rent allowance will cost the state KD 1.188 billion over seven years. This is about the same cost as constructing four residential cities including South Saad Al-Abdullah, South Sabah Al-Ahmad, Jaber Al-Ahmad City, and South Abdullah Al-Mubarak Suburb. Around KD 1.172 billion is estimated to be the cost of these cities, which provide about 64,500 housing units.

The state can direct the huge sums it pays annually as rent allowance toward other development projects by accelerating the completion of housing projects and covering the existing housing needs.

In addition to providing psychological, material, and social comfort to citizens waiting for their dream homes, they also claim that providing housing as soon as possible leads to a reduction in land and private housing prices. As part of the solution, the mortgage law must be approved, more land must be released from the state's grasp, and real estate developers must be able to complete housing projects in accordance with specific specifications and deadlines.

It would speed up the completion process. However, the state should keep up with the growing demand for housing by providing subsidies to cover a portion of the rent of citizens' apartments, some of which have been on the waiting list for more than 20 years.

The rent he paid 20 years ago for his apartment (KD 500 per month) amounted to about KD 120,000, according to a Kuwaiti citizen. His house could have been built with this amount, but he spent it without any interest except psychological and social pressures. Kuwaiti families pay between KD 400 and KD 900 per month in rent for their homes.

Kuwaiti families live in rented housing or in their family houses while waiting for their turn to be housed. The Public Authority for Civil Information reports that 313,000 Kuwaiti families are on the housing waiting list. Approximately 35 percent of the employee's salary is consumed by rent. Depending on the area, cladding, and region, Kuwaiti families' homes rent for between KD 400 and KD 900.

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