Social housing programmes too small to address needs, study shows

TIRANA, 20 – Only less than 20 percent of people in need in Albania have benefited from social housing programs which are too small to address the needs of the changing urban population, according to a UNDP study.
“Women are less likely to apply and therefore benefit from social housing programs. Related to soft loans awarded to women, the average amount is significantly lower than men. The banking procedures for social housing soft loans are too long and costly for the vulnerable groups,” says the study.
Zineb Toumi- Benjelloun, UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative said “social housing programs need to be conceived also to fight the drivers of exclusion; they should therefore be in tandem with programs that focus on improving access to education, increasing employment opportunities, and providing access to health services.
“Safe and secure housing is no luxury, but a basic human right. As partners in development, we must support those in need and especially those who simply can`t afford a roof over their heads” said Deputy Head of Mission, Embassy of Switzerland, Holger Tausch.
Amongst others, the findings show that legal framework of social housing suffers from a number of problems, such as the exclusion of vulnerable groups from the scoring system and poor specification of transparency procedures and accountability mechanisms.
Only 14.34 percent of social housing applicants have benefited from available programs. Almost all municipalities rank the lack of funding as the main problem in providing social housing. The study concludes that addressing the problem of homelessness in Albania requires undertaking multiple steps simultaneously, such as revising the legal framework, shifting the attention of social housing programs and funding to the poor, and strengthening the fiscal capacities of local governments.