| INTRODUCTION: |
| In the process of development and change, one of the main challenges that faced cities in the Kingdom, especially Riyadh city, has been the problem of squatter settlements and unplanned housing which appeared as a result of insufficient houses. Squatter settlements in cities, particularly in Riyadh, sprang up with the inflow of population from the rural and desert areas. Squatter settlements began to grow near the industrial and economic complexes and military centers which recruited new immigrants for unskilled jobs such as guards and laborers. Since those centers and establishments could not provide housing to their workforce, they resorted to erecting shelters near their new workplaces. |
| The Saudi Government decided that solving this problem and eliminating this worsening situation should be based on humanitarian considerations. Therefore, it bought these land plots from its legal owners. Some of these plots were owned by the government and it started building streets and schools and providing them with other public service utilities. The squatters also were given legal ownership of the plots, as well as drawings and designs to build permanent houses provided with all amenities of modern housing. |
| For the urban poor - that is low-income people - the government launched a serviced land plots program aimed at providing them serviced free land plots, so that they could build their own dwellings with interest-free loans from the Real Estate Development Fund. Tens of thousands of plots were allotted throughout the Kingdom the low-income people. In Riyadh alone, 100,000 plots have been given away to the poor in the last ten years. |
| Apart from public housing projects, several private sector-funded projects were implemented by charitable organizations to provide shelter to the poor and the poor and the homeless, particularly in Riyadh and Makkah. |
| Although the supply of the urban housing is growing, it falls short of demand. The over-all shelter situation also calls for rehabilitation and renovation of substandard residential areas, which emerged in the wake of rural-urban migration and uncontrolled urban spree. In all the Saudi cities, there have been great changes in urban housing policies which coincided with implementing many new housing projects. |
| Public and private sectors' housing, as well as charitable institutions' housing have contributed significantly to the governments' housing policy to provide the urban poor with decent, safe and healthy dwellings. |
| This study deals with the squatter settlements within the governments' general urban housing policies, to provide housing to all citizens, especially the poor, in the Kingdom of Sausi Arabia. |
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شارع عبد المقصود خوجة
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