Residents’ Perception of the Affordability of Private Housing Schemes: Lessons from Aden, Yemen

Abstract

Over decades, the housing sector in Yemen has suffered from housing supply shortages and the inability to meet the households’ housing demands. Since the Unification of Northern and Southern territories of Yemen in the 1990s, the issue of housing affordability has become a major concern in the growing urban sectors of the Yemeni cities including Aden. While, before Unification, the people in Aden have utilized public welfare housing where only they paid a nominal rent for their housing. The people were unaccustomed to a home purchase. After Unification, however the government has discontinued the welfare housing system, and the private sector has dominated the market for the housing service provision. This paper aims to investigate the residents’ perception of the affordability of housing provided by the private sector, and the extent to which the private housing schemes are able to meet the housing needs of Aden (the economic and commercial capital of Yemen) population. A questionnaire survey was conducted. The sample of the study was 369 of resident's respondents. The results of the study showed that the housing cost in Aden was beyond the reach of the majority of the population and that most families in Aden were financially incapable of purchasing the private houses without credit availability. It also showed that the majority of the respondents in both projects assisted that their housing condition is inadequate in quality. The study recommends that efforts should be undertaken by the local housing authority to facilitate financial support to potential home buyers of low-cost housing projects as well as enforcing more flexible house purchase mechanism for the benefit of the people. On the supply side, it is also important for the housing developers to enhance their performance level during the housing construction stages. More concerted efforts are necessary to resolve Aden housing problems in the long term.