National Housing Programme Expands Support Beyond Vulnerable Groups

Albania will transition to an integrated national housing system with the goal of extending assistance beyond vulnerable groups to young couples, employees who must reside close to their places of employment, young people moving for work, and other middle-class groups.
In her presentation of the new housing policy orientations, Minister of Economy and Innovation Delina Ibrahimaj emphasized how the new system will connect housing with public land, urban development, transportation, the labor market, and economic development.
The minister claims that a new strategy is required due to urbanization, changing demographics, and growing housing costs. Over the past 11 years, Albania has seen a 4.7% growth in the number of homes, although the average household size has decreased from 3.9 to 3.2 persons. However, more affordable housing for residents has not always followed from an increase in construction supply.
The Agency for Territorial Development will increase its duties as the technical arm for carrying out policies, identifying public land, and organizing projects to be carried out by municipalities under the new institutional framework, while the ministry will continue to play the function of policymaker. It is anticipated that the National Housing Authority would become a publicly traded corporation that will construct and oversee housing for both social and affordable uses.
The new policy also calls for the establishment of a national fund for social and affordable housing, which will combine state budget funds with developer contributions of three percent. The money received from the sale or rental of affordable housing will be used to fund housing regulations.
Out of the 33 municipalities that applied for the program to improve housing conditions, Minister Ibrahimaj also revealed the selection of 26 winning municipalities during the presentation. A fund of ALL 700 million will provide assistance to 663 households nationwide.
In addition to the 2,000 quotas for loans with a subsidized 3% interest rate that were allowed last year, 300 zero-interest loan quotas have been established for public administration personnel just this year. A request for an extra 1,500 quotas for loans with discounted interest rates has also been made by the Municipality of Tirana.
According to the minister, various housing measures have helped almost 100,000 Albanians, or about 30,000 families, since 2018. In addition to the construction of 1,058 social housing units and the improvement of housing conditions for 6,078 families, 7,219 households have benefited from subsidized loans and 14,512 families from rent subsidies during this time.
The instruments for its implementation are anticipated to be offered after the new legislative package on housing policies has been prepared.