THE housing crisis continues to be one of the most complex issues in Kuwait that exacerbates the social situation of families who are waiting for their dream house.

However, it seems that the solutions are only slogans that continue to be fictitious, because the vision falls short of realizing the reality of the future in terms of housing, especially with regard to proper structure and the environment.

Even though the state is obligated to provide housing care for citizens, it is not concerned about rendering areas to bad scenery of concrete forest that also lack structure.

In other countries, there are civil regulations based on clear standards that citizens do not deviate from when it comes to construction, including the colors on the exterior of the building, environmental preservation, and other specifications that give a beautiful view of the area.

From 1963 until today, several attempts have been made to organize population care, but they have failed because the primary goal was not a radical solution.

Other countries, especially the Gulf ones, solved the problem within years, as they relied on building integrated cities in terms of self-sufficiency either in roads, public services, or even parks. For all of this, the state did not pay a single penny of its public money.

It instead obligated the citizens to borrow from real estate banks, while the state paid the interest, similar to what the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Morocco, and even Britain and other countries did.

The reasons for the housing crisis also include the scarcity of land allocated for housing, and the lack of liquidity at the credit bank, which is why the number of housing applications has exceeded 100,000. This number increases annually with the increase in the number of housing care seekers.

There are about 95,000 families who do not have homes. The Public Authority for Housing Welfare (PAHW) pays each applicant KD 150 per month as rent allowance, meaning that there are additional costs that can be saved if the government works to adopt solutions applied in other countries.

Here it must be noted that the Kuwait Credit Bank has debt worth about KD four billion owed by citizens. It is possible to borrow this amount from banks and work to rotate its loans.

This is in order to build beautiful housing cities that provide all the requirements for citizens, and use foreign companies that have a long history in building cities, and not granting plots and loans that reach KD 70,000.

This is due to the fact that the citizens consider this amount as small and incapable of meeting their needs because they want to build a large house. They are also not satisfied with the 400 meters allocated to them. They hence resort to borrowing in order to increase the area vertically.

This is why they fall under the burden of debt and destitution, because the state gave them the freedom to choose the form and design of the building, which does not exist in any country in the world.

Your Highness the Prime Minister, resolving this crisis requires a vision that takes into account the future of the housing, social, economic, and environmental situations. What is most important of all is getting rid of the financial burdens incurred by the state, which will undoubtedly reach a stage where it will not be able to fulfill not only residential care, but everything it provides to citizens.

This is why we beg to say: This is not how things get done.

By Ahmed Al-Jarallah

Editor-in-Chief, the Arab Times