A study has outlined the poverty threshold with implications for housing affordability across Iran’s 31 provinces and shows the relationship between the median income of households and housing costs.
It is conducted by Mohammad Reza Farhadipour, one of the advisors to the Comprehensive Housing Plan -- an affordable housing scheme initiated by the Rouhani administration -- and a fellow with the Iranian Banking Institute, the website of the Ministry of Roads and Urban Development reported on Tuesday.
The report warns that 56% residents of Sistan-Baluchestan Province are unable to earn adequate income to meet their housing needs, indicating an alarming condition for housing affordability in the southeast province.
For every individual to stay above the ‘housing needs’ poverty threshold in Tehran Province, they need to be able to put aside 15 million rials ($500 at the official exchange rate) of their income for housing, the research said. According to the study, Tehran Province has the highest poverty line for housing needs.
“A household of four in Tehran is considered poor if it is unable to afford 5.32 million rials ($177) per month for housing costs,” Farhadipour says.
The southern province of Hormozgan Province , has the second highest poverty line when it comes to housing at 14 million rials ($465) per person per year followed by Alborz and Sistan-Balouchestan provinces with 11.5 million rials ($385)and 9.6 million rials ($320) respectively.
Farhadipour pointed to the low level of poverty related to housing in Ilam Province at 2.84 million rials ($94) although the province is considered as one of the most underdeveloped areas in the country.
The study suggests that 36% of the residents in southwestern Bushehr Province, 33% in Kerman Province residents and 31% of people at Khuzestan Province are having difficulty in meeting their housing needs.
It also shows that Zanjan Province enjoys the best state of housing affordability as 12.6% of its residents are below housing affordability.
