Evaluation of the Affordability Level of State-Sector Housing Built in Iran: Case Study of the Maskan-e-Mehr Project in Zanjan City
Publication: Journal of Urban Planning and Development
Volume 141, Issue 4
Abstract
Supplying affordable housing for urban lower- and medium-income classes has always been considered an important planning objective. The policies of Iran’s fourth and fifth development plan (referred to as Maskan-e-Mehr or Kindness Housing Project) is intended to supply more affordable housing for the urban low-income classes. For this purpose, the state sector has strove to reduce the average house price as much as possible through cession of land in cities and new towns surrounding metropolises. In turn, families just have to pay the housing construction. Unfortunately, the lack of suitable services and facilities in these areas has resulted in an increase in household transportation costs. Therefore, the present research work deals with evaluating the affordability level of these houses through a new index of housing affordability, which simultaneously considers housing and transportation costs. The study revealed that high transportation costs that result from inadequate accessibility to public transportation and neighborhood services, and high payback of the monthly installments of the housing loan from the other side has resulted in spending more than 45.2% of the family income on housing construction and more than 25.8% on commuting. This means, in general, about 71% of the families’ income is spent on housing and transportation combined; these figures show lack of affordability of these houses for target groups (low-income classes).
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Published In
Journal of Urban Planning and Development
Volume 141 • Issue 4 • December 2015
Copyright
© 2014 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Jul 6, 2013
Accepted: Jun 24, 2014
Published online: Aug 26, 2014
Discussion open until: Jan 26, 2015
Published in print: Dec 1, 2015
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