Sharjah increases cap on housing aid applications

Programme will accept 1,500 requests for assistance each year

Sheikh Dr Sultan bin Muhammad Al Qasimi, Ruler of Sharjah, has increased the number of Emiratis who can apply for housing aid. Photo: Wam

Sheikh Dr Sultan bin Muhammad Al Qasimi, Ruler of Sharjah, has increased the number of Emiratis who can apply for housing aid by 50 per cent.

The announcement means that an additional 500 families will be eligible to apply for assistance each year.

The cap was 1,000 applications per year, but will now be increased to 1,500 by the Sharjah Housing Programme.

It comes after the Sharjah Consensus 2022 reported a 22 per cent growth in the emirate's population to 1.8 million.

The programme was launched in 2012 and has since spent Dh8.9 billion ($2.4 billion) to aid Emiratis, benefitting 10,879 families.

This figure includes more than Dh5 billion in housing grants and Dh3.4 billion in housing loans.

Khalifa Al Tunaiji, head of the programme, said that 6,400 applications for aid have been approved in Sharjah City and Al Hamiryah, 3,155 in the eastern region and 1,271 in the central region.

As part of the programme, construction of residential complexes in the Muhadhab suburb of Al Quteena is under way, he said.

Al Quteena 1 will have 366 housing units, while Al Quteena 3 and Al Quteena 5 will have 460 and 214 units respectively.

The project will take two years.

In Kalba, 151 units in Al Saf residential complex have been completed and handed over to Emirati families.

Al Saf, which is in its second phase and is expected to be completed by the end of the year, will provide 273 units.

Construction is set to start on several complexes in Kalba, Khor Fakkan and Dibba Al Hisn, offering a further 825 units.