Abstract
Qatar has experienced several decades of substantial growth, largely driven by the exploit of natural resources. The growing economy has in turn fuelled immense development and physical change within Qatar, supporting the growing population of people who are an integral part of the emerging employment sectors. For several years now, Qatar had a clear National Housing Program (NHP), moreover Many laws and systems are on-board supporting and controlling the delivery of the housing options for deferent population groups in a segmented manner. Through the existing system, there are many players and governmental entities responsible for regulating, controlling, providing, and managing the housing sector segmentally. This affected the housing market, as well as causing negative impact on built environment and quality of life. In addition, it is important to have a comprehensive roadmap for housing provision, and integrated communities, which is essential to improve quality of life as a national objective as addressed in Qatar national vision 2030. Based on that, the Ministry of Municipality and Environment issued many policies in Qatar national development framework aimed to progressively improve quality of life for citizens and to achieve the goal of being the region’s most liveable urban environment. Moreover and because of the absence of integration between players in the housing market, MME conducted a National Housing Strategy. The strategy aim is to encourage sustainable development by providing strategic framework for delivering a diverse supply of housing options that respond to the needs of its resident; based on population growth and anticipated future demand. The Strategy provides full picture of the housing sector in Qatar and set out how to counter the existing and anticipated challenges by providing a framework to guide planning, development and integrated delivery by having a comprehensive formalization of the housing sector including all segments & players. Additionally, it will fill the existing gap by identifying a sustainable approach to deliver future housing that is aligned to what is needed, when it is required and where it can be provided. Also, it allows more strategic and integrated planning for service providers to deliver supporting infrastructure, services and amenities consistently with the housing opportunities and plans. Based on the abovementioned, this paper will follow the analytical approach for presenting Qatar’s housing experience by describing & analysing the existing housing program, with reference to challenges. And then, it will demonstrate how the new national strategy will help to achieve the national objectives, especially for the housing sector by implementing its policies, , and how this will be crucial in guiding how the State will face and manage the current challenges, and how it will move forward to contribute to the future well-being of its residents, and how it will contribute in achieving the national economic and environmental visions. Besides, the paper will address the benefit of implementing the strategy and its proposed action plans to provide a range of housing options across Qatar, and how this will help Qatar to assess the housing sector and improve it at the right time, by using the optimum mechanisms to meet the community aspirations. Finally, the paper will conclude by summarizing some lessons learned, and recommendations that can be applied for enhancing the housing profiles in many places.
