JEDDAH, 31 August 2006 — The national strategy to fight poverty, which has been drafted by experts and presented to higher authorities for approval, will serve at least 1.2 million Saudis, informed sources said.
Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah ordered the strategy after visiting a Riyadh slum in November 2002 when he was crown prince.
Officials at the Ministry of Social Affairs would not disclose the number of Saudi individuals and families living below the Saudi poverty line of SR1,700 ($452) per month.
Some 391,000 Saudi families with 1.2 million members currently enjoy social insurance benefits provided by the ministry. The preparation of the strategy was delayed, as correct statistics about poverty situation in the country were lacking.
As part of efforts to fight poverty, King Abdullah has allocated SR10 billion to construct 64,000 low-income homes in the next four years for hundreds of Saudi families who live in makeshift buildings and slums in various parts of the country.
According to Yousuf Al-Othaimeen, secretary-general of the King Abdullah Charitable Housing Foundation, the Kingdom currently needs at least one million housing units in order to provide decent housing for its poor.
Al-Othaimeen said the foundation would build 13,000 housing units in various parts of the country within a few years. The foundation’s home-building charity is separate from the government’s initiative announced by the king.
“Studies conducted by the foundation suggests that the demand for housing units is more than anybody imagines,” he said.
The king established the foundation to build low-cost housing units for the poor. The foundation has already completed a large number of low-cost housing projects for the poor in various parts of the country. The housing units are provided with all facilities including heath care and education.
Al-Othaimeen said families deserving of charitable housing units were chosen either by visiting areas lived in by the poor or by applying strict criteria.
“There are four criteria: First, the person should be a Saudi; second, he should not have received any loan from the Real Estate Development Fund; third, his monthly income should not exceed SR2,500; and fourth, there should not be any workers under his sponsorship,” he said.
Referring to emergency housing units, he said the foundation is currently building 2,200 houses to fulfill some immediate needs.
Abdul Aziz Al-Masoud, secretary-general of Prince Salman Charitable Housing Program, said poverty could not be tackled just by supplying essential commodities required by people having low income. “Instead, we have to support the capabilities of the poor to depend on themselves,” he explained.
