Sustainable and Equitable Housing Solutions in Bahrain

How does the Kingdom of Bahrain ensure accessible housing for its citizens? Through carefully structured housing programs, Bahrain establishes clear criteria and eligibility guidelines, aimed at providing suitable and affordable housing solutions. These efforts reflect Bahrain's dedication to fostering a well-supported and thriving community, ensuring that housing needs are met in a sustainable and equitable manner.

In the Kingdom of Bahrain, addressing housing needs is a key priority, actively pursued by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Planning. This commitment is rooted in Bahrain's constitutional framework, particularly in Article 9-(F) (PDF, 1.77MB, 168 pages) which emphasizes facilitating housing services for Bahraini citizens with limited income. This policy underscores Bahrain's dedication to upholding housing as a fundamental right, ensuring all citizens have access to suitable and affordable living conditions including all the vulnerable groups under the 5th Category (divorced, widows and deserted women by court order) are covered.

According to the UN SDGs Report, very few countries in the world can serve so many citizens with their social housing programs such as Bahrain. Since the Ministry of Housing and Urban Planning’s inception in the 1970s, and in line with the UN SDG no.11 to Make Cities &Human Settlements Safe, Resilient, and Sustainable, the Government has provided close to 130,000 housing services and established new cities for housing projects. In the new cities, the government has considered all the facilities that ensure modern urbanization and quality of life for its citizens such as greenery plans, environmental sustainability, sea views in the coastal areas and more. In recent years, social programs have counted on increased budgets and reached a scope hitherto non-existent. Housing support provided by the government ensured a very high standard of accommodation compared to international standards. Providing access to housing has therefore contributed to high standards of living amongst the Bahraini population. The fundamental role of the government in ensuring housing provision is clearly understood in Bahrain, and the promotion of social welfare and national prosperity is a consistent core principle of national policy.

The Ministry of Housing and Urban Planning provides a number of financing options, giving citizens a range of choices and streamlining the process of receiving suitable housing. Financing services are simplified, including easy and subsidized installments that take into consideration the income of everyone.

As part of the national digital transformation agenda of Bahrain, the government has provided all housing services online including an interactive and remote customer service to provide a full range of consultation and customer experience to its citizens.

Baity Platform is an interactive digital Real Estate advisor, powered by the Ministry of Housing & Urban Planning. Baity stands as a definitive platform for Bahraini citizens seeking to purchase an affordable home, providing Bahraini citizens with a full spectrum of housing services. The platform is a PropTech (Property Technology) solution utilizing advanced technologies and Artificial Intelligence to provide a distinctive customer experience and a full-fledged housing solution under one umbrella.

Also the Ministry of Housing and Urban Planning has affirmed keenness to expand cooperation with the private sector and involve it in advancing various development fields, by creating more promising and qualitative opportunities for investors and real estate developers, as well as providing them with all supportive facilities, in a way that contributes to stimulating vital sectors to continue achieving economic growth to reach the forecast goals.

The move is in line with the directives of His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, the Crown Prince and Prime Minister, to expand the Government Land Development Program (GLDP) and implement eight additional projects in partnership with the private sector during 2023-2024.

The provision of the new housing units is based on the positive outcomes of the Government Land Development Program (GLDP) since its inception March 2021, through the great success achieved by the “Suhail” project, in partnership with the private sector.