Housing is a basic right and the authorities in the Ministry of Urban Development say they are trying to make it possible for people to buy homes through easy bank loans.
The banks that will be involved are Bank e Milli Afghanistan and central bank, and also the Ministry of Finance has been roped in.
Benefsha Yusufi who has studied economics in a Chinese university thinks it would spur job creation and ease the flow of young people leaving the country in search of livelihoods. Yusufi considers insecurity, poverty and joblessness as main factors for migration of youth. Most Afghans cannot dream of saving money to buy a house for instance unless they are working abroad.
Abdullah Yusufi, head of a youth organisation called Awaz e Jawanan (voice of youth), is ready to welcome any housing plan by the government or charitable organisations. Afghanistan has been a beneficiary of international aid for more than a decade but housing, a major problem, has not received attention, he says. Right to shelter is a basic right, and the government has to do everything possible to fulfill the constitutional promise.
“Housing is an acute problem, and not only is it a concern for returning refugees or internally displaced Afghans but families of modest means have no home of their own,” says Yusufi.
Sayed Sadat Mansoor Naderi, minister of urban development, has written in his official Facebook page that he has discussed the plan to give long-term loans with the authorities of Bank e Milli (national bank) and central bank. The former bank has prepared a draft of the method that will be followed by loan applicants, and sent it to the central bank. Once the system is in place, people can easily get loans from the Bank e Milli.
Aziz Ebrahimi, press advisor in the Ministry of Urban Development told Killid in an interview that the process of sale of houses through long term loans still has not been finalised and the ministry would enter an agreement with the central and other banks.
“When the agreement takes place with the central bank, the ministry will announce which projects houses can be bought with long-term loans,” he adds.