Casablanca – As it prepares its 2023 Finance Bill, the Moroccan government plans to review its public assistance system to facilitate access to home ownership.
The change in the housing support approach aims to replace tax expenditures (exemptions), whose social and economic impact is difficult to quantify, with direct assistance for house ownership access, according to the government.
Morocco Needs New Approach to Housing
During a recent weekly session of oral questions at the House of Councillors, Fatima-Zahra Mansouri, Minister of National Planning, Urban Development, Housing, and Urban Policy, highlighted that Morocco needs a new approach to housing, especially for the middle class.
In her speech, the minister drew up a balance sheet of achievements since the program was established in 2013 to address the housing needs of the middle class.
Only 11,328 housing units have so far been completed as part of the program, Mansouri said, lamenting that this figure remains modest compared to social housing.
According to the minister, the government’s social housing program completed the building of 600,000 housing units by the conclusion of its first phase in 2020, with another 100,000 under construction now.
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“Recent studies have shown that the total demand has reached two million units, 70% of which belong to the social and middle class,” the minister said.
“In response to this demand, and to encourage investment, the Ministry is working on the creation of a new program, with a new approach, in which offers will be made for the most vulnerable class, the social class, and the middle class,” she added.
The government intends to rely on two foundations, Mansouri noted. First and foremost, she explained, it will focus on the new development paradigm, which emphasizes direct assistance to residents.
In particular, the minister concluded, the government will also rely on social cohesiveness metrics, construction quality enhancement, and expert consultations in order to develop an efficient program.
