Minister of Housing, Construction and Infrastructure Dr Abdulla Muththalib has clarified that the Government’s Aailee Boahiyaavahikan (Family Housing) Programme is designed to provide basic stability and dignity to vulnerable households rather than serve as a mechanism for building personal assets.
In a LinkedIn post addressing public concerns about the programme’s eligibility criteria, the Minister explained that the core objective is to ensure families with no home or land receive priority assistance. He stressed that public housing forms the essential foundation for education, health, employment, and social cohesion, rather than functioning as an investment or wealth-building tool.
Dr Muththalib emphasised that families with zero access to housing or land face the highest level of vulnerability and have no fallback options. In contrast, those with even limited or shared housing access are in a different position when public resources remain constrained. He noted that assessing eligibility at the household level is necessary because housing demand arises from shared family units, not individuals.
Allocating additional publicly funded housing to a household that already has access, before another family receives its first unit, would widen inequality rather than reduce it, the Minister said. He acknowledged the complexity of individual circumstances and explained that the policy incorporates specific thresholds and conditions to maintain fairness. Families with children under 18 may still apply even if living in one- or two-room apartments, while land size limits help distinguish between minimal access and substantial ownership.
Dr Muththalib made clear that the current eligibility rules are not permanent. They are required while housing supply continues to catch up with demand, and the policy will evolve as the Government delivers more social housing units, land plots, affordable ownership schemes, and private-sector options. Once every family has access to at least one home or land plot, eligibility guidelines will be relaxed and opportunities expanded.
The Minister reiterated that housing insecurity affects entire families — including children, elderly parents, and dependents — and that the guiding principle of Aailee Boahiyaavahikan is to ensure no family is left without a first home. Public housing must first provide families with “somewhere to stand” before wider opportunities can be extended, he concluded.