Affordable Housing Not for Everyone

A new programme to build affordable housing in Kazakstan will not improve life for low-income families unless the government can prevent speculators from buying up these homes.



Last week, the Kazak government decided to design a new initiative to build around 230,000 apartments as affordable homes between 2008 and 2010.



But commentators warn that before embarking on any new initiative, the government needs to look at the problems that have arisen with the current affordable housing programme, which ends this year.



Political scientist Eduard Poletaev points out that the government’s efforts have been undermined as many subsidised homes have ended up being resold on the open market. He would like to see a ban on the resale of affordable housing.



The housing is sold at 350 US dollars per square metre, but corruption in the distribution has allowed speculators to sell it on at a huge mark-up. Housing in Almaty, for example, currently sells at an average of 3,000 dollars per square metre.



House prices continue to rise and although the government has taken steps to try to control the surge, its attempts have failed.



Political observer Seidahmet Kuttykadam warns that before launching this major construction programme, the authorities should make sure they have sources of building material.



“There is construction going on in this country, but we don’t have our own plants producing cement and bricks. The government should start here before implementing such a big programme, otherwise it will cost us immense sums of money and we’ll end up funding industry in neighbouring states rather than our own,” he said.



(News Briefing Central Asia draws comment and analysis from a broad range of political observers across the region.)