MAJOR RECENT GOVERNMENT POLICIES IN HOUSING AND URBANIZATION

Major government policies in housing in Turkey are inevitably affected by various factors. Therefore, through the context of the recent government policies, the priorities defined can be stated as follows:

Reducing uneven regional distribution and providing a balanced allocation of housing investments,
Preventing unauthorized squatter constructions and renewal of squatter areas,
Improving sensitivity to quality in settlements,
Regulating urban rent and increasing land supply,
Improving capacities for disaster mitigation,
Rehabilitation and improvement of the existing housing stock,
Improving intra-urban transportation facilities,
Establishing adequate recreational areas,
Increasing the capacities of the local authorities,
Improving financing of urban infrastructure,
Improving financing of housing and improving delivery of housing.

Housing sector, the largest sector in Turkish economy, serves both for social and physical development purposes simultaneously and in a well-balanced manner, creating much more added value than any other sector does. It is closely interrelated with employment, inflation and activation of local and nationwide economies, which constitute the most outstanding and urgent problems that Turkey is face to face with. Considering such contribution of the sector to the general economy, keeping alive the sector as a measure against economic crises, during which domestic markets shrink, gains much more importance. Housing to be performed through new projects across the country will create new employment opportunities; activate trade, smaller industrial and transportation sectors, thereby reviving the local economy of the project sites.

In all these respects, housing and urbanization must be taken as two interlinked issues at the political level. The recent Government in Turkey evaluates these two phenomena in connection with each other.

58th and 59th Governments declared an Emergency Action Plan, which is supposed to provide solutions to the basic social, economic, administrative problems of Turkey. One of the main action areas in this regard is housing and urbanization. Therefore, the main principles underlying housing policy recently, are shaped by the relevant articles of Emergency Action Plan of the Turkish Government on housing and urbanization.

The Emergency Action Plan of the recent Government is the major guide to the recent housing policies in Turkey. There are two important articles of the Emergency Action Plan regarding housing and urbanization under its Social Policies (SP) Heading:

SP 44 of the Action Plan states that; squatter housing construction will be prevented in cooperation with the local governments and existing squatter areas will be rehabilitated.
SP 45 of the Action Plan urges that low-income groups will be provided adequate housing units in a short period of time and with low repayments.

Within the perspective of the general framework set by the 8th Five-Year Development Plan prepared by State Planning Organization and the Emergency Action Plan of the Turkish Government, and the urgent affordable housing need of the large segments of the society in Turkey, HDA is the most important implementation body in realizing the basic principles through housing and settlement policies as a fund provider, land provider and as enabler at the local level.

In this framework, by producing %5 - %10 of the housing need in Turkey, HDA aims;

to form a model with sample applications,
to enhance the optimum quality,
to reduce the cost,
to provide discipline and to prevent speculations through the sector,
to provide housing production in the regions in which the private sector services are insufficient.
to apply renovation of squatter housing in cooperation with the municipalities,
to provide contribution for the realization of a uniform extension of the population through the whole country geography, and
to enhance planned urbanization through the country.