Affordable Housing Policies in Iraq and Jordan

Abstract

This research is looking at one of the most important concepts in the developing countries that is ‘housing provision for the low-income’. The research will analyse and evaluate two affordable housing provision systems in two different countries; Iraq and Jordan. The research consists of four parts. In the first part, the research starts by briefly giving a background about the general factors that lead to the emersion of the affordable housing needs in most developing countries with short justification for the choice of two countries Iraq and Jordan.
In the second part, the research will look at the different philosophies and governmental views regarding the affordable housing issues, and the level to which both governments consider themselves involved/concerned in providing housing for the low-income according to the laws.
The third part of the research will be looking at the different conditions of the low-income and how were they defined according to the legal system of both countries regarding housing provision.
The research will then continue in the fourth part by explaining the governmental mechanisms, delivery and support programmes associated with housing provision for the low-income in each of the two countries. Taking into consideration the advantages and disadvantages of these mechanisms and indicating the differences between mechanisms used in both countries.
Finally, and based on the main findings in the first two parts, the research will end up pointing to the most important key points in the conclusion.

Full text

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ISSN: 1996-983X
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01 
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

E-mail: urpi_baghdaduniv@yahoo.com
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




78-102










103-120










121-144









145-168



325102

58



  

          


         

            




         

 




325102


59
Affordable Housing Policies in Iraq and Jordan
Abstract:
This research is looking at one of the most important concepts in the developing
countries that is ‘housing provision for the low-income’. The research will analyse and
evaluate two affordable housing provision systems in two different countries; Iraq and
Jordan. The research consists of four parts. In the first part, the research starts by
briefly giving a background about the general factors that lead to the emersion of the
affordable housing needs in most developing countries with short justification for the
choice of two countries Iraq and Jordan.
In the second part, the research will look at the different philosophies and
governmental views regarding the affordable housing issues, and the level to which
both governments consider themselves involved/concerned in providing housing for
the low-income according to the laws.
The third part of the research will be looking at the different conditions of the low-
income and how were they defined according to the legal system of both countries
regarding housing provision.
The research will then continue in the fourth part by explaining the governmental
mechanisms, delivery and support programmes associated with housing provision for
the low-income in each of the two countries. Taking into consideration the
advantages and disadvantages of these mechanisms and indicating the differences
between mechanisms used in both countries.
Finally, and based on the main findings in the first two parts, the research will end
up pointing to the most important key points in the conclusion.


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Introduction
The world demography has changed a lot during the last few centuries especially
after the rapid technological and manufacturing developments. The world of today is
a lot different from the world of the past. Agriculture, which provided most job
opportunities in the past, is now industrialised and thus it cannot provide the same
percentage of job opportunities for people as in the past. This mean that people
have to move to other places like cities where more jobs and better services are
available. Population growth, economic growth, urbanization and the increasing
focus on cities as the new development centres by governments and politics meant
making the city even more complex system with higher levels of demand on basic
services such as housing, health, education…etc. Thus rules and laws have to be
laid down to control and regulate the life in these cities to guarantee that everyone
have access to these basic services without affecting others living in the same
community.
Housing, as other basic services, has changed dramatically during this period.
From the old small simple houses built by few unspecialized families, to the new
advanced housing systems planned and built by a number of specialized
organizations and construction companies.
All these factors above lead to the emersion of poor and low income families who
could not afford to buy or sometimes even rent a housing unit which commensurate
with their basic needs. Thus, governmental and non-governmental organisations
worldwide started to think about the best approach to help these people to gain (own
or rent) their own housing units which suit their basic needs.
Governments nowadays differ in their way of looking at the affordable housing
problems in their countries. Thus, they differ in the way they help these people and
their level of involvement. From playing the role of ‘Enabler’ who enables the low-
income to have an appropriate housing unit through the market such as providing
microfinance systems, subsidies, loans, discounts, technological support…etc. To

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the role of ‘Provider’ who provide these low-income families with land, basic
services, parts or even full housing units.
This research will look at affordable housing provision systems in two different
countries, namely Iraq and Jordan, with an emphasis on the origins of affordable
housing shortages, governmental philosophies and views related to affordable
housing provision and to what extent these two governments see themselves
concentred about the housing shortages, the governmental mechanisms of
supporting or delivering housing for the low-income. The justification of this choice is
derived from a number of similarities and differences in the factors related to housing
problems in both countries which makes the comparison extremely important:
- Both countries are consider countries from the Arab world with Islam as the
main religion (1).
- Both countries have about the same overall population density in both rural
and urban areas of around 70 people per km2 with about the same fertility
rate and population growth rate (1).
- Iraq’s total area is about 438,317 km2 (2) nearly five times the area of Jordan
which is about 89,342 km2 (3).
- Iraq has a higher level of Arable land per capita than Jordan (1).
- Different political systems. While Iraqi political system, as described in Act 1 of
the Iraqi Constitution (4), has recently changed in 2005 to be Federal
democratic republican system, Jordanian political system has been liberal
monarchy for about six decades as described in Act 1 of the Jordanian
Constitution (5).
- Iraq has a much higher GNI than Jordan (1). This can be attributed to the fact
that Iraq is one of the biggest oil-producers worldwide and that oil production
represent over 89% of the national budget, Jordanian national budget, on the
other hand, is mainly based on taxes.
- The direct relation between the housing crises in both countries especially
after 2003.

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Origins of the low-income problem in Iraq and Jordan
Beside the natural causes of the increasing demand on affordable housing in
most developing countries discussed earlier, there are other reasons which
specifically apply to Jordan and Iraq regarding the affordable housing shortages in
these two countries. Therefore it is highly important to briefly explain the origins and
the nature of housing problems in both countries here to be able to understand the
real factors which led to affordable housing shortages in each of the two countries
and thus the philosophies, policies and mechanisms associated for addressing this
problem.
Iraq
After the fall of the Iraqi Kingdom in 1948, Iraq started a new era within which Iraq
turned to be a socialist republican country. During the first stage of this era (1958-
1968) and in order to provide political support for the new government, the
government tried to attract some of the low-income people who were originally living
in rural areas to cities by starting housing and land provision programmes especially
for those who migrate. This caused a huge numbers of rural-urban migrants to
migrate to Iraqi major cities back then such as Baghdad, Mosule and Basrah. The
numbers of migrants were very high that it was above the expectations of these
programmes, and in such short time that the government was unable to stop this
migration especially with the political conflict within the new government during 1963-
1968 (6). According to (7, 8), The increasing numbers of migrants had a very
dangerous impact on most Iraqi cities by increasing the demand on basic needs such
as education, health, jobs… and housing especially the affordable housing. The
continues neglect of housing problem by the government during the second stage
(1968-2003) which resulted in the lack of finance allocated for housing and other
development programmes on the national level, in combination with the bad impacts
on Iraqi people and infrastructures resulted from the Iraqi-Iranian war 1980-1988 and
the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in 1990-1991 and the crisis followed. All this caused the
aggravation of housing needs on the different levels (low, mid and high-income) until
it became a dangerous crisis affecting the whole Iraqi community especially the low-
income and the mid-income. After 2003 and due to the security issues in Iraq and the

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political conflict, the government could not start any housing programme. Most of the
national budget was spent on the new Iraqi army and police which was essential for
securing Iraq overall. Besides there are new laws and regulation to be approved first
in order to facilitate development programmes and allow national and international
investors and companies to work in the country. Based on all that above it is possible
to conclude that the main reasons for the affordable housing problems in Iraq are the
unplanned housing programmes and the continuous neglect to this important sector
followed in the last six decades.
Jordan
Although the origins of housing crisis in Jordan differ from Iraq, they are to some
extent related. According to (9, 10), the main problems in Jordan regarding the
housing sector are derived from the unbalanced housing supply and demand as well
as the differences between the specifications of available housing stock and new
families’ needs. The main factors which caused and causing these issues in Jordan
are the regional migrants’ waves from the countries nearby which differ in size, type
and level of income which was combined with the limited national budget and
housing programmes implementation problems. These waves are as the following:
1- First Palestinians migrants’ wave after 1948 war in Palestine who were mainly
mid-income class who lost their houses or business…etc.
2- Second Palestinians migrants’ wave after 1967 issues who were mainly low-
income.
3- First Iraqi’s migrants’ wave during the Iraqi-Iranian war 1980-1988 from different
classes.
4- Kuwaitis migrants’ wave after the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in 1990 which were
mostly from the high-income class.
5- Second Iraqi migrants’ wave after the failed revolution on the Iraqi regime in
1991 which were also from the different classes.
6- Third Iraqi migrants’ wave after 2003 which mainly consisted of high and mid-
income families.
7- Syrians migrants’ wave which is happening now due to the recent situations in
Syria.

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The successive waves of migrants to Jordan and the small flexible housing
market in this small country, all that caused the demand on affordable housing to
increase as well as causing the whole housing market in Jordan to fluctuate
dangerously.
Philosophies and views of Affordable housing:
Based on what was discussed earlier, it is safe to assume that the governments
of both countries have different philosophies and views about the type and level of
governmental organizations involvement in affordable housing.
In Iraq the philosophy of housing delivery for the low-income is based on act 3 of
the Iraqi constitution (4), “the government is responsible for providing acceptable
housing with basic services for all Iraqi people especially women and children”. It is
possible to say that this is mainly derived from the older laws when Iraq was a
socialist republican country. The main difference here, however, and according to the
new laws - act 26 of the Iraqi Constitution (4) and (11) - the government does not
have to be the only provider of these services, in fact the new Iraqi laws opened the
door widely for national and international investors, NGOs and other organisations
which propose to work freely especially in the housing sector through announcing
new set of laws which should facilitate the work of international investors such as
allowing non-Iraqis personal and organization to own land in Iraq exclusively for
housing projects as described in the new investment law approved by the Iraqi
parliament in October 2009 (12).
This huge changes in laws and the Iraqi housing system can be attributed to the
fact that the Iraqi government is now aware that it is highly unlikely for the public
sector to be able to fulfil the increasing demand on housing services especially with
the huge housing shortages inherited from previous governments associated with the
Iraqi community’s different classes (poor, low, mid and high-income). The new
government has also realised that it is too hard to monitor and control housing
provision in the whole country centrally like the way it used to be before, therefore the

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central government started to give some control for local authorities over issues such
as housing and other services provision while keeping some basic overall
monitoring/control on these local authorities regarding their performance.
As for the Jordanian government, the philosophy of affordable housing provision
is based on humanitarian and political reasons as there is no legal text which
commits the government or to be responsible for housing provision for the Jordanian
people. Instead housing provision is now completely dependent on the market. It is
important to mention here that because of the huge impacts on the housing sector by
the different migrants waves, the government tried to tackle the problem in the 1970s
and 1980s by shifting housing provision for the mid and high-income to be fulfilled by
the market by attracting national and international investors to invest in the housing
sector. While leaving the affordable housing demand to be fulfilled by the government
via social housing (10, 13). The programme, nevertheless, did not continue because
of some financial and technical problems, which pushed the government to shift
housing provision for the low-income to be fulfilled by the market as well in the early
1990s.
Based on what we discussed above and because of the differences regarding
housing problems nature and governmental financial capacity of both countries, it is
possible to say that the new view of the Iraqi government regarding housing provision
is to mainly act as Enabler/Controller, while acting as a Provider/Investor to some
extent especially when dealing with the affordable housing. On the other hand, the
view of the Jordanian government is to act as Enabler/Controller almost always.
These differences in governmental views have it impacts on the mechanisms used to
solve housing problems in both countries.
Who are the Low-income?
It is crucial to understand how the low-income are defined in both Iraq’s and
Jordan’s legal system. According to (14), the main conditions of any person to be
described as low-income, are:
1- Should hold the Jordanian nationality and be more than 18 years old.

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2- Do not own his/her house or apartment in the same city of the affordable
housing project.
3- Is not benefiting from one of the apartments by the Jordanian Housing and
Urban Development Corporation (HUDC) in the same city of the new project.
4- Is not benefiting from the Housing Funding Support programme.
5- Living or working in the city of the proposed affordable housing project.
In Iraq and based on the law 234 in 1979 (15), the conditions required from any
person who want to benefit from affordable housing programmes are:
1- Neither he/she nor any member of his/her family who he/she are responsible
for financially should own their own housing unit in the same city of the
proposed affordable housing project.
2- He/she or his/her partner is not benefiting from another affordable housing
project from any governmental organization.
3- He/she or his/her partner did not buy and sell their housing unit through the
past 3 years.
4- Is not benefiting from any of the Housing Funding Support programmes.
It is possible to say here that there are some advantages for the Iraqi law over
the Jordanian law in that a sense. The Iraqi law is more critical because it included
life partners and family members who are the responsibility of the person applying for
the affordable housing in the conditions. That could guarantee that every low-income
family can get only one housing unit for the low-income in the housing programme or
one loan which should help distributing affordable housing more equally, thus more
low-income families will be benefited from these programmes. However, it is not
really defined what will happen exactly if one of the conditions stopped being valid,
for instance if the two partners were separated after receiving the housing unit and
then remarried to people who have their affordable housing because that might end
up with one family having two affordable housing unit and another family who does
not have a housing unit.
Another advantage for the Iraqi system is the third condition. By eliminating
people who bought and sold their housing unit within the last three years before the
application is being made, it is possible to reduce frauds which might happen when

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the family sells their own house in order to get housing subsidies, loans or discounts.
Especially if the fact that according to the Iraqi land and house registration system
the land or house is registered under the name of the new owner once he/she
finishes paying all of the housing loan payments, and thus they will be free to sell the
house or apartment.
One advantage for the Jordanian system is the fifth condition which gives the
right only for the person who lives or works in a city which has housing support
programmes for low-income to apply for the affordable housing or fund. This has a
major advantage in the reduction of rural-urban or urban-urban migration. Also, it can
limit the number of benefited families in each city to those who will benefit the most.
It is important to mention that although the Iraqi law did not require the applicant
to hold Iraqi nationality and based one that the door should be opened for non-Iraqis
to benefit from housing support programmes; it was not possible practically for non-
Iraqis to benefit from these programmes because the old laws did not land and
houses to be registered for non-Iraqis as well as for the loans to be given for non-
Iraqis. Also and although the law 234 in 1979 is still currently valid, it only applies
through few governmental organisations now. Instead, and according to the new
laws, each organisation who wants to offer affordable housing support of any kind
has the freedom to put its own conditions with regard to the central statistical
recommendations made by the Iraqi Ministry of Planning.
It is crucial to mention here that both countries use special system to prioritise
applicants for the affordable housing, fund, loans …etc. See (Appendix 1)
Mechanisms of Affordable housing provision/support
The differences in the governmental philosophies and views on one hand, and
the different nature of housing problems in Iraq and Jordan on the other hand, meant
there are a number of differences in the mechanisms used by governments to help
addressing the housing problems for the low-income. The main mechanisms
regarding housing support programmes for the low-income are:

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A- Housing Programmes
Housing programmes is one of the common ways to provide support for the low-
income. It generally means that the government will provide full housing units for the
low income via subsidised payments, selling at cost price, price discounts…etc. with
the government as the main and the only investor or by allowing the private sector to
invest in this field too by providing an appropriate legal system to attract investments
to this field.
In Jordan and because of the limited governmental finance for housing, the
government started the Jordanian Housing Bank in 1974 to encourage national and
international investors to invest in the housing sector (16). The government also tried
to facilitate land buying and selling for international investors by providing set of laws
earlier the same year such as act 17 in 1974 (17). However and since housing for the
low-income is generally considered less profitable for national and international
investors, most investors started to invest in the mid and high-income housing which
is considered more profitable. That resulted in housing oversupply for the mid and
high class on one hand, and housing undersupply for the low-income especially after
the failure of governmental programmes in 1980s and 1990s to cover the affordable
housing demand. This, in turn, lead the government to shift the affordable housing
supply to the market and encourage investments in this sector by providing tax reliefs
and standards-overcome permissions for investors working in this sector. A good
example of this type of housing programme in Jordan is the royal initiative of “Decent
Housing for Decent Living”, which mainly financed by regional investors from Saudi
Arabia…etc. to provide housing for the low-income.
The second type of housing programmes used by the Jordanian government is
within wider regeneration programmes such as the one by the Jordanian Urban
Development Department which was established in the 1980s. The programme was
focusing on upgrading slums and squatter areas within Amman, Zarqa and Aqaba
and to provide Site-and-Service schemes for the low income groups. The department
was also responsible for providing small subsidies and loans for upgrading slum and
squatter areas and provide housing for the low-income.

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As in Iraq and due to the new set of laws which gave more flexibility to local
authorities to sign investments or start projects in the housing sector, it is possible to
see a variety of housing programmes for the low-income.
According to (7, 8), one of the important housing programmes in Iraq is through
local authorities. These programmes provide subsidised housing, housing discounts
or housing units at cost price for the low-income or even for free. This type of
affordable housing provision is controlled by a special system called ‘Provincial
Development system’. In this system the ministry of planning will be responsible for
deciding the amount of finance for each of the 18 governorates or local authority
regarding housing provision and other services based on two factors; 40% for
province deprivation level and 60% for the relative importance of the population in the
province. See (Appendix 2). After deciding the size and type of Housing sector
improvements by the local authority, they might then either sign a contract directly
with some investors or housing companies, or through the ministry of housing to
provide affordable housing and put the eligibility rules/conditions.
There are also housing programmes for the low-income via the central
government or the Kurdistan regional government which are quite similar to the one
via local authorities but it is under the control of the central government or the
regional government directly or through one of the government’s ministries. In the
latter case it tends to be allocated for this particular ministry’s employees only.
It is possible to notice here that housing programmes in Jordan are mainly
financed by international and some local investors while in Iraq they are mainly
financed by the government. This can be attributed to the fact that Iraq higher
national income from oil production, and in addition to that the door is still widely
opened for housing investments for the mid and high-income class. However, Iraq
can extremely benefit from the Jordanian’s system to attract more investments
towards the affordable housing sector which might then lead to a more balanced
supply of housing by the market and at the same time free the government from the
burdens of affordable housing giving it more freedom to focus on other sectors where
it is difficult to attract investments such as housing for the poor…etc.

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70
On the other hand, Iraq is using a really developed system to distribute and
manage housing provision in different provinces which extremely beneficial to ease
the control and management of housing for the low-income and at the same time
achieve fair distribution of housing for the low-income in Iraq’s 18 provinces.
B- Land Provision
Another mechanism of housing support system for the low-income is land
provision. Land provision generally means providing the low-income with land at
nominal prices in order to build their own housing unit. This system is normally
associated with service delivery and subsidised loan system.
Although land provision is available for government employees in Jordan through
their organisations, it is not a very successful system in Jordan. The main reason is
that most of the land owned by the Jordanian government is too far from city centres,
thus it is inconvenient for those employees to build their housing unit there because it
is too far from their place of work…etc.
On the other hand, this system is widely used in Iraq especially for government
employees. Most of Iraqi ministries and other governmental organisation provided
land at nominal prices for their employees especially the low-income. This system is
also available through other non-governmental organisation such as Iraqi engineers’
guild…etc. for their members but it normally has special requirements for applicants.
Although this system is also available through local authorities in Iraq for non-
government employees, it is really rare that it could not be considered as another
way of land provision.
In both Iraq and Jordan, although land provision does not allow the recipients to
use the land provided for other purposes, it does not really require them to build their
housing unit on this land. Therefore it is possible to observe here that most recipients
sell their land once the finish the registration procedure and thus the land end up in
the market to be sold at market price. Therefor it crucial to put some legal restrictions
and provide financial support to encourage the recipients to build their housing units
on the new land rather than leave it untapped or sell it in the market.
C- Housing Loans

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The third mechanism is loans which can be either loans specifically given for
housing purposes or general but can be used for housing purposes. There are
different channels which provide loans for the low-income. This method is extremely
beneficial when combined with land and services provision system. And it is also very
useful way for individuals who do not have their own housing unit but have the land
and the will to build their own house.
In Jordan, housing loans is provided for government employees through their
organizations such as military Housing Corporation, teachers housing funds,
universities Housing Funds, Or for the public non-government employees through
housing co-operatives and the formal private sector and banks or through the
Jordanian Housing Bank (16). However, in the latter case it normally has a higher
interest rate and requires government employee insurance letter.
In Iraq, housing loans are available for the public through the Iraqi Housing Bank
which provide loans of up to about 35m Iraqi Dinar. The only collateral needed for
this loan is the land which will be used for building the new house or apartment
building. The payment could be divided up to 15 years with an interest rate of 8% per
annum. Another type of housing loans is through governmental organizations which
normally made for their employees and equal to about 100 times their monthly salary
with lower interest of about 4% per annum. The third type of housing loans is through
co-operatives and non-governmental organizations such as Iraqi Engineers
Guild…etc. however these loans normally have special conditions such as being a
member of the guild for a certain number of years…etc.
It is possible observe that housing loans in both Iraq and Jordan are still at high
level of interest and sometime pretty small compared to the actual prices of housing
units in these two countries especially for non-government employees. This has
major impact on housing loans system efficiency in reducing housing demand and
helps the low-income to gain their own housing unit. In my opinion, governments
should facilitate loan procedures and try to decrease interest rates on housing loans,
and at the same time provide an efficient system to encourage construction
companies to decrease their costs by providing tax reliefs…etc. in order to


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72
encourage low-income families to build their own houses and thus decrease the
housing crisis impacts.
D- Other mechanisms
There are also a number of other mechanisms to provide housing support for the
low-income such as rental housing which is generally available for government
employees such as Universities rental housing in Iraq and Jordan, Military rental
housing in Jordan…etc.
Final Conclusions
Based on what we discussed earlier in this research, it is possible to conclude
two import points. Firstly, the huge variety of mechanisms regarding housing
provision for the low income at the different levels in Iraq over Jordan gives Iraq the
advantage of better distributing housing services amongst different cities equally and
also increases the chance for low-income families to get housing support which suit
their needs the best. However, the wide range of mechanisms and the high number
of governmental and non-governmental organisations involved will make it very
difficult to control the housing system especially with the absence of any effective
monitoring system to make sure that housing support systems are achieving their
goals and delivered to the targeted people. On the other hand, although the Iraqi
housing system for the low-income is still new, the Jordanian system seems to have
the advantage over the Iraqi system when considering the amount of governmental
finance needed for housing support programmes because it was more successful in
attracting international investments.
Secondly, although the governmental philosophies and view of both Iraq and
Jordan regarding affordable housing provision gives the impression that housing
support system should be available for all community members equally, it is possible
to observe that practically the low-income families who work in governmental
organisation are better served by affordable housing support programmes and.


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73
The following table shows the relation between type of employment and
affordable housing provision system in both Iraq and Jordan.
Table 1: Effectiveness of the different housing support mechanisms available for the low-income
Housing
Provision system
System level of effectiveness
Iraq
Jordan
Gov.
Employees
Non-Gov.
Employees
Gov.
Employees
Non-Gov.
Employees
Housing
Programmes




Land Provision



-
Housing Loans




Other
Mechanisms

-

-
Average/Total




In my opinion the high level of advantages given for low-income government
employees compared with others who are not governmental employees regarding
housing services is having a very serious impact on the community and the
economy. This is because it attracts more people towards working in the public
sector (governmental organisations), in a time where people should be directed
towards the private sector and private investments. This will firstly decrease the
pressure on the government giving it the advantage of monitoring the private housing
delivery system and secondly giving the private sector the opportunity to deal with
housing problems especially after it proved its success and flexibility in dealing with
the increasing housing demands in a number of countries worldwide. This could be
achieved by increasing affordable housing programmes and funds on the general
bases rather than making it specifically for government employees and encourage

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74
the private sector to invest in the different housing provision systems (low, mid and
high-income) at the same level.
Appendices
Appendix 1: System used to identify and prioritise the low-income:
In both Iraq and Jordan, a special system is used to prioritise the low-income
applicants who want to benefit from the different housing support programmes
available for the low-income. The system is a point-based system which takes the
following aspects into consideration for each applicant:
- Social condition: which means is the applicant married how many children do
he/she has.
- Educational Situation: which means the type and level of the degree he/she
has.
- Which city he/she is living in.
- Number of years in service.
- Land ownership: which means does he/she has a land or house which
belongs to or owned by him/her only.
- Years of service in the military in Jordan system only.
- The original nationality (Palestinian or Jordanian…etc.) very common in the
Jordanian system.
- Other conditions.
In Iraq for example:
 Five points is given for the applicant who lives in the same city the housing
programme or fund will cover.
 One point for each year in service.
 One point for each wife and one point for each child up to 18 years old except
girls who are not yet married and still under the financial responsibility of the
applicant.


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75
 Five points for PhD holders, Four points for Master’s degree holders, Three
points for Bachelor’s degree holders, Two points for Undergraduate Diploma
holders (2-3 years) and One point for High-school certificate holders.
As seen here, this system takes the different aspects of life to prioritise low-
income applicants, which, for instance, will have an effect on the time for handing
over the housing unit, the maximum number of payments and the time allowed, the
type of housing support and finally the interest rate.
Also it is possible to use this system to encourage good or bad behaviour. As
what used to happen in the past in Iraq when the government was giving 10 points
for the people who are members of Ba’ath party or close to the regime.
Appendix 2: The Provincial Development system in Iraq:
Due to some political and racial reasons, the distribution of development programmes
and income associated with development projects was not equal during the period between
1948 and 2003. Because of that unequal distribution some cities were over-serviced by
housing, health, education…etc. services while others were not. Therefore and after 2003, a
new set of laws was approved by the Iraqi parliament which allowed the Iraqi Ministry of
planning special to start a special system to distribute the governmental budget associated
with housing and other services provision through local authorities according to the level of
deprivation of the city and the importance of the city according to the percentage of its
population.
Table 2: Iraqi governorates priority according to the degree of deprivation. Source: based on (8)
Provinces
Population Percentage
Deprivation Factor
Mesan
11.3
55.8
Al-Muthana
9.0
44.3
Al-Dewania
9.0
44.3
Thi Qar
8.5
42.1
Wasit
7.2
35.5

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76
Babylon
7.0
34.5
Naynawa
6.8
33.5
Salah Al-deen
6.7
33.1
Dyala
6.7
32.9
Karbala
6.6
32.7
Najaf
6.0
29.6
Basrah
5.3
26.3
Karkuk
4.2
20.6
Baghdad
3.6
17.8
Al-Anbar
2.1
10.3
Iraq average
-
27.9
Based on the two factors, the Iraqi Ministry of Planning will determine the exact share
of the national budget which will end up in the different housing, health, education…etc.
services in each province. The money will then be transferred to the local authority with a set
of recommendation from the ministry of planning.
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