It was in the winter of 2018 when Iranian Transport and Urban Development Ministry launched the National Housing Action Plan, which includes the construction of 400,000 small and medium-sized apartments (70-100 square meters in size) across the country and particularly in Tehran, where housing prices have risen most sharply.

Nearly half of the said houses were decided to be constructed in Tehran’s suburban “new towns” such as Parand and Pardis, respectively located in the west and east of the city.

Of the mentioned 400,000 units, 200,000 are planned to be built in new towns with the participation of the private sector, 100,000 units in worn-out areas and by the Urban Reconstruction Company, and 100,000 units by the Islamic Revolution Housing Foundation.

In early September 2019, the registration of the National Housing Action Plan was started from Kerman Province. The second round of registration began in ten other provinces in November that year.

Applicants in Sistan-Baluchestan, Qom, North Khorasan and South Khorasan provinces registered first and those from Kordestan, Kohgiluyeh-Boyerahmad, and Golestan came in the second stage, while from Chaharmahal-Bakhtiari, Hamedan, and Yazd provinces came in the third stage.

Then the turn came to the applicants of Tehran province.

The first group of the plan’s housing units were handed over to the applicants in late November last year, and the second group in mid-July this year.

The ceremonies for both stages were attended by President Hassan Rouhani and the Transport and Urban Development Minister Mohammad Eslami.

The minister has stated that in order to facilitate the access of the target community to affordable housing units, 55 percent of the price of the mentioned units will be lent to the applicants in the form of bank facilities.

According to Eslami, in the process of the registration for the National Housing Plan, over 2.5 million people applied, among which 530,000 were eligible to receive housing units, however, some did not complete the registration.

As announced by Deputy Transport and Urban Development Minister Mahmoud Mahmoudzadeh in the ceremony to hand over the second group of units, so far in the two stages of the national housing program hand overs, over 40,000 units have been handed over to the applicants around the country.

In early July the official had said that the construction costs for the National Housing Action Plan are set based on the current year’s construction material price list and haven’t changed.

The official made the remarks in response to some rumors about the rise in the prices of such housing units as a result of the increase in construction costs.

While the National Housing Action Plan aims to provide affordable residential units for the people, it covers variable groups of the society.

In a recent measure in this due, the Transport and Urban Development Ministry has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance for constructing 10,000 affordable housing units for the country’s journalists and artists, under the framework of the National Housing Action Plan.

The MOU was signed on Saturday in a ceremony attended by the transport minister.

Speaking in the signing ceremony, Eslami noted that all the necessary preparations have been made in collaboration with the culture ministry and the location and land for the project have been determined.

“We have a duty to provide the ground for people to become homeowners, and in this program [the national housing plan] we have defined the mechanisms in such a way that it reflects a stable policy and a firm determination to realize this goal,” the minister said.

The official has reiterated that registration in the National Housing Action Plan is comprehensive and includes everyone.