Forms disqualified from three Hiyaa categories, Housing cites lack of flats

Forms have been disqualified from three Hiyaa categories, H11. H13 and H15, with the Ministry of Housing citing the reason as not enough one-room flats being available for purchase from the towers erected for employees of state companies.

The Ministry of National Planning, Housing and Infrastructure in an announcement revealed that initial plan to issue one-room flats under the "Hiyaa" social housing scheme was to do so by purchasing units from the towers erected for employees of state companies. However, the Ministry went on to detail that only 36 units had been available for purchase from the towers, and as such, forms by applicants from three categories of H11, H13 and H15 had to be disqualified due to the lack of available flats.

The three categories from which forms were disqualified are the H11 category, for one-room flats issued to married couples between 18 and 40; the H13 category, for one-room flats issued to those registered to the Male' Municipality Register; and the H15 category, for one-room flats to be issued to newlywed couples.

The Ministry of Housing further added that only 36 one-room flats had been available for purchase from the MWSC tower, and that the forms had been disqualified in order to allocate those one-room flats to families with disabled persons under the H14 category, and to those registered to the Male' Municipality Register under the H12 category.

The "Hiyaa" housing project was first announced under the Yameen administration, with the incumbent Solih government having disqualified the earlier distribution of flats in order to ensure that social housing was afforded to the most deserving without corruption, nepotism and favoritism in the allocation of flats. The Committee Investigating Public Housing Schemes was established to review applicants for social housing and prepare a new list of recipients, the permanent list of which was released earlier on 9 February. The permanent list had not included the H11, H13 and H15 categories, which are the three categories from which forms had been disqualified.

While citizens have expressed many concerns with regards to the permanent list of "Hiyaa" flat recipients, the government has pledged to review those concerns and present solutions to resolve them. The government has also announced that flat recipients would be able to move into the "Hiyaa" housing units around the middle of this year.