Urban housing policy evaluation in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

The rise in wealth for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia led to an increase in demand for more and better housing. In response to this rising demand, and as part of an overall development policy, a housing 60a1 and several housing objectives were identified. To attain the goal and objectives, a formal housing policy was designed and authorized. It involved direct and indirect assistance to the private sector, a subsidized financing program for new housing construction, a serviced land program for the low income, and public housing. This thesis is an evaluation of the urban housing policy in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Two bases of evaluation espoused developing are utilized. The first is the Kingdom\u27s own housing objectives. The second involves a theoretical framework which addresses the rationales behind housing policy. The required information was collected from official government documents. Interviews were conducted in the Kingdom to gather additional and unpublished information. Additionally, field visits to housing projects were conducted tn the cities of Jeddah and Riyadh. Where information for the Kingdom as a whole was unavailable, data for the city of Jeddah was utilized. The policy results of the evaluation show that public sector involvement in housing is most effective when indirectly applied. That is, subsidies to the private sector and to purchasers of housing through finance subsidies were more successful in providing housing units than direct involvement through public housing. An important consequence of the difference in effectiveness between privately and publicly built housing is that poor households were deprived of housing benefits. Recommendations for future housing policy include the provision of housing benefits to the poor, either through the existing, but uninhabited public housing units, or through earmarked transfers, or a combination of both. It is also recommended that the existing and future status of public housing be realistically evaluated. Finally, it is recommended that the range of financing activities be expanded and that the private sector assistance policies be continued