User:Ahmad Kamal Sayed Khalaf Albehbehani/sandbox

Waiting For a House Campaign

Waiting for a House Campaign is an Advocacy Group dedicated to end the housing crises in the State of Kuwait. It was established in November 1st 2011 via a Twitter account titled (@Na6er_bait) which in the Kuwaiti dialect of the Arabic language translates to (waiting for a house). The Twitter account became a main source of news regarding housing affairs. It revealed the contradictions of news and official statements by officials that promised giving out more housing units. Those loose promises were not bound by a specific timeframe and as a result they mislead the People of Kuwait to false hope. The worsening crisis and the increase of followers of the campaign's Twitter account led to a gathering which brought affected citizens face to face to discuss the housing issue. An agreement was reached to organize and advocate for the end of the housing crises. In May 2012 the campaign's Organizing Committee was formed. One of its first actions was to carry out an academic research to find the root of the housing crises as well as collecting relevant data and statistics. The Organizing Committee focused on gaining the trust of the Citizens of the State of Kuwait to achieve their goal of providing proper housing care for future generation.

The housing crises in Kuwait

The housing crises can best be defined as the short supply against the rising demand for housing units in the State of Kuwait. A housing unit is defines as a privately owned dwelling. Successive governments failed to provide enough housing units and execute infrastructure projects on time which have led to the short supply of housing units. This crisis may surprise many observers since The State of Kuwait has been enjoying great financial surpluses for the past recent years and 90% of its land is empty desert. According to an official referendum carried out by The National Assembly of Kuwait in September 2013, the first concerning issue for the People of Kuwait is housing. The law in Kuwait obligates the authorities to provide a housing unit for any married male Kuwaiti head of a household within a period of five years. The Public Authority for Housing Welfare (PAHW) is the government institution responsible for providing government-subsidized housing units for the citizens of Kuwait. However, the queue for obtaining a house, a flat, or a piece of land for housing purposes from The Public Authority for Housing Welfare has reached approximately 115,000 applications so far. The average period for an applicant to receive housing care from the day of application is 17 years. PAHW gives out monthly allotment of 150 KD (500$) to every head of household waiting for his turn for housing welfare. The annual budget allocated for the allotment given to Kuwaiti citizens exceeds 540 million USD.

Real estate prices have reached sky rocking levels due to the short supply of Housing Units and lands designated for housing purposes. The average price for a house in 2014 is around one million dollars which is past the financial capability of most Kuwaiti families. With the rise of demand for housing during the past 20 years and the low supply of housing units, 36% of the citizens of the oil rich GCC country do not have a housing unit of their own. Rental of different housing units have also reached unprecedented high levels taking a bigger bite of monthly income of the Kuwaiti families. Lack of effective legislations to cap rental prices and regulate real estate market also contributed to the problem. According to the Public Authority for Civil Information the total population of Kuwait is approximately 4,079,000 and the total number of houses is around 140,000 and the total number of apartment buildings is around 12,000. The Public Authority for Housing Welfare currently holds enough virgin land to build more than 160,000 housing units.

Waiting for a House Campaign came up with the fact that in order to start solving the housing issue in Kuwait, The Public Authority for Housing Welfare must provide at least 12,000 housing units per year. This figure is based on the fact that for the past 10 years the average number of applicants for housing units is around 8,000 persons representing 8,000 new families. In order to reduce the queue for housing, the supply must exceed the demand. Waiting for a House Campaign calculated that for a steady and economically safe decrease of the housing queue there must be at least 4,000 housing units more than the annual number of applicants. By Providing 12,000 housing units per year real estate prices will start to become more stable which will allow some applicants to purchase real estate and withdraw their applications therefore decreasing the housing queue. This created a clear and specific demand for the Organizing Committee to advocate for.

The Campaign

One of the main objectives when the campaign was launched was to draw the attention of all the Kuwaiti citizens and all political sides towards the housing crises and away from political rivalry. This objective stemmed from the Organizing Committee's belief that the future of Kuwait rested on the necessity of supporting the stability of Kuwaiti families. At the time of the campaign's initiation, Kuwait was going through high political tension due to the sequence of regional events which were later called (The Arab spring) and due to internal issues as well. The political tension at the time made the task of drawing attention towards the housing crises more challenging. The Organizing Committee sought to build more pressure on the competent Authorities to take swifter actions towards the housing crises. The first ever civil demonstration organized by Waiting for a House Campaign was on 22nd May 2012 which took place in front of the Public Authority for Housing Welfare.

As well as social Media such as Twitter and Instagram, classical Media were also used by the Campaign Organizers. The Organizing Committee were interviewed on TV and radio channels as well as writing articles for daily newspapers. When the new Cabinet was formed in late 2013 after the general election of the Members of the National assembly of Kuwait, the Campaign immediately demanded plan to provide at least 12,000 housing units per year and a specific timeframe for execution. Without any initial significant responds towards the Campaign's demands by the newly appointed Minister of Housing Affairs (Eng. Salem Al-Utheina), the Organizing Committee decided to take it to the next level. On 16th September 2013 Waiting for a House Campaign held a demonstration in front of the main building of the Public Authority of Housing Welfare. The demonstrations continued every Monday for the next 13 weeks. On October 7th 2013 the Campaign's Committee organized a pen collecting event in which those affected by the crises were called upon to plant pens on a board that would be presented to the Prime Minister at the time (Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Hamad Al-Sabah). The event was a symbolic message to the Prime Minister demanding him to sign contracts and housing projects with more urgency. The Organizing Committee also decided to send a strong message by setting up tents in front of the main building of the of The Public Authority for Housing Welfare. The tents were confiscated by Kuwait Municipality with the help of Police forces. On December 2013 the Minister for Housing Affairs Eng. Salem Al-Utheina announced a 3 years plan promising to provide an annual average of 12,000 housing units. The Campaign Organizers realized their first goal of placing the authorities on the right track and therefore it decided to end the demonstrations. The 3 years plan was also ratifies by the Cabinet.

In January 2014 the Minister for Housing Affairs Eng. Salem Al-Utheina was relieved from his duties. Yassir Hassan Abul took office as the new Minister for Housing Affairs on 7th January 2014. The campaign Organizers demanded that the new Minister to adopt the 3 years plan of the former of his predecessor Eng. Salem Al-Utheina. The new Minister adopted the 3 years plan with some amendments and additional number of housing units per year. Waiting for a House Campaign continued to press for an average supply of an annual 12,000 housing units. The Campaign Organizers have met with the Speaker of The National Assembly of Kuwait regarding their demands. The National Assembly Speaker Marzouq Ali Al-Ghanim stated that the Campaign's demand is realistic and reasonable.

After setting the competent authorities on the right track, Waiting for a House Campaign is now keeping an eye on the execution of the promised plan. The Organizers have pledged to hold public demonstration again if the Public Authority for Housing Welfare failed to not deliver its promised plan.

Having no political ambitions the Campaign extended its hands to cooperate in different ways to with authorities to achieve the common goal. The Campaigned Organizers were never reluctant to meet with other officials that have a direct or indirect association to the housing crises in Kuwait.

Gatherings are organized on the first Monday of every month to discuss the progress of resolving the housing crises in Kuwait. Guest Speakers associated with different governmental and non-governmental organizations have been invited to talk about issues relevant to the housing crises.