Almost all countries are grappling with housing dilemmas.
Even in rich countries, some low-income and poor households do not have access to decent housing. Therefore, governments try to prevent the exacerbation of the problem by devising and implementing amelioration plans. A government’s failure can turn this issue into a crisis for a large number of people. In other words, if a large group of citizens feel troubled meeting their housing needs, then we should call it “housing crisis”. These were stated by Nasser Zakeri, an economist, in a write-up for the Persian daily Shargh. A translation of the text follows:
Iran’s housing problem in recent years has snowballed into a crisis. For a better understanding of the problem, we need to pay attention to these facts:
Given the annual minimum wage, the waiting period to buy a 50-square-meter housing unit in Tehran has increased from 29 years in 1986-87 to 46 years in 2006-7 and 111 years in 2022-23. To be more precise, there is no connection between salary and home purchase for years now and saving a fraction of the monthly salary to buy a home has lost its meaning.
In 1976-77, the country’s tenant population was over 17%. This ratio decreased significantly in the early years after the Islamic Revolution and reached 12%, but rebounded in the years following the Iran-Iraq war, by reaching 26.6% in 2011-12 and 30.7% in 2016-17. At present, the worrying percentage is 40%, as living in rented homes has become common even in rural areas.
The share of housing in the expenses of urban households stood at 28% in 2005-6, 33% in 2011-12 and 43% in 2020-21, and now it is estimated to hover between 60-70%. This is while the figure stands at 19% in the United States, 23.9% in the European Union, 24.4% in China, 25% in Japan, 17% in South Korea and 15% in Turkey. The index stands at 20-22% in the world.
Since 2002-3, the average housing price in Tehran has increased 180-fold. The excessive rise in the price of real-estate compared with other assets and income has not only created a stressful condition for the middle-income households when it comes to the maintenance of homes, but has also destroyed the livelihood of low-income households. As a result, even families living in their own homes are constantly worried about the condition of their residence and its possible costs.
Contributing Factors
Regardless of the method of ownership and the problems stemming from the increase in the number of tenants, a significant percentage of the existing units do not have an acceptable quality; they are either built with substandard materials, or have passed their prime and fail to ensure the welfare of their residents.
According to optimistic estimates, up to 40% of the country’s population suffer from the consequences of poor housing. Of course, if we see the requirement of adequate size for the number of residents, we will undoubtedly reach a higher figure.
For many years, the problem of commuting in big cities has been taxing citizens and officials. The excessive growth of urban spaces and population in metropolises, and the lack of long-term planning by urban managers have aggravated traffic congestions. The inappropriate pattern of urban architecture has troubled citizens, as it wastes their precious time. Air pollution and mental pressures are also worsening the health of citizens.
The share of rural population has dropped from 53% in the fiscal 1976-77 to 26% at present. The sharp decline in the rural population is the outcome of inefficient regional development policies that led to a wave of migration to big cities.
In view of the above points, any unbiased analyst will conclude that Iranian people are struggling with housing challenges but the decision-makers’ denial of “housing crisis” has led governments to resort to short-term and ineffective policies for years to resolve this crisis. Instead of adopting a fundamental approach, they devise stopgap solutions to solve the crisis. Therefore, acknowledging the fact that the country is ensnarled in a housing crisis is the first step toward solving it.
