VIII. Housing Trends and Policies
VIII. Housing Trends and Policies
This Policy Brief devotes particular attention to the issue of urban
housing. Earlier UNDP-supported reports have highlighted housing
shortages as a major constraint on rural residents wishing to migrate
in search of more prosperous lives in cities (Cornia 2003). As the rate
of urbanization increases in Uzbekistan, shortages of housing—and
particularly of affordable and well maintained housing—will become
increasingly critical.
A. The Coordination of National Policies
The Government
needs to develop
a comprehensive
vision on how
the housing
sector as a whole
should contribute
to tackling the
disparities in
living standards
across regions
and across cities.
While the government is making remarkable efforts to codify regulations
for the housing sector, it lacks a comprehensive vision of how the housing
sector as a whole should deal with the disparities in living standards across
regions and across cities. Currently, the Cabinet of Ministers establishes
housing and utility reforms, coordinates the activities of local authorities,
and designs procedure for housing allocation and utility services, but no
one single national body is responsible specifically for housing policy.
Housing policy still needs to be governed by a coherent strategic vision.
There is also a need for plans with clear targets, links to related programs,
and monitoring and evaluation mechanisms that can assess their impact on
socio-economic and spatial disparities. Overall, government departments
are not clear enough about their respective needed contributions to
national housing priorities. This has often resulted in uncoordinated
activities and sometimes even in conflicting outcomes.
B. Housing Affordability
While not enough data are available to provide a clear statistical
picture of housing affordability in Uzbekistan’s cities, interviews with
authorities suggest that affordable housing is still a problem. If we
make the common, reasonable assumption that monthly mortgage
payments should not exceed 30% of household monthly income, then
decent housing is probably unaffordable for many middle-income and
low-income households.
The Ipoteka Bank, which was established in 2005, does provide long-
term subsidised mortgages, yet it stipulates that mortgage payments
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