Social housing: Real estate finance initiatives have managed to control slum growth in Egypt

Mi Abdel Hamid, chief executive of the Social Housing and Real Estate Finance Support Fund, said that the Fund planned to double the pace of work over the coming period, as presidential mandates continued to provide housing units to eligible citizens and to various income segments, which required further cooperation with the banking sector. She participated in a session entitled "The Role of Central Bank Initiatives in Supporting the Egyptian Economy during Crises" at the Economic Conference "People and Banks," held at the 15th session, entitled "The Role of the Banking Sector in Supporting Sustainable Development." The Chief Executive of the Social Housing and Real Estate Finance Support Fund noted that the session had addressed the economic impact of the central bank's initiatives to promote the various living sectors, as well as the role of monetary policy in achieving economic stability and controlling inflation. The CEO of the Social Housing and Real Estate Finance Support Fund, speaking during the session, said that the social housing project at its inception was facing great difficulties. Most banks saw the new project as difficult and not easy, and the quality of the targeted clients did not have the financial culture to participate in such programmes. According to Mi Abdel Hamid, the Fund had succeeded in changing many perceptions about housing ownership in Egypt, in addition to being able to grant the right to own housing to different groups who had been difficult to obtain a housing unit in the past, such as individuals without income proof, who now accounted for 18.5% of the beneficiaries of previous and current self-employment initiatives, only 33% of government employees and the rest of the private sector.