The World Bank says in the housing sector the Maldives must implement income-based targeting which would help improve the financial viability of the Rent-to-Own program while also promoting home ownership.
The Bank said this in a statement issued to announce the launch of the World Bank's Maldives Public Expenditure Review (PER).
In the PER, the World Bank said that the Government of Maldives has directed a significant amount of resources to the challenge of delivering affordable housing, but so far fallen short of its goals.
It identified that the issues hindering the housing goals include weak institutional arrangments and capacity as well as a lack of an integrated housing data system.
The PER also said that the government needs to one-size fits all housing strategy is also keeping it from achieving its own housing goals.
It said that until recently, 90 percent of public funding in the housing sector has been directed to the Rent-to-Own Program inHulhumalé at the expense of other housing needs.
The PER further said that despite the government’s considerable financial investment in the Rent-to-Own scheme, its effectiveness has been marred by poor targeting of beneficiaries.
World Bank said that to mitigate such issues, the government should consider readjusting its housing strategy by implementing income-based targeting which would help improve the financial viability of the Rent-to-Own program while also promoting home ownership.
