Saudi Arabia's Quest for Affordable Housing

By Chuck Ware, LEED AP

Saudi Arabia ranks as one of the world's wealthiest nations, with a GDP among the top 20 and a budget surplus largely driven by its role as a leading oil producer. However, these measures do not correlate with personal income or standard of living conditions for Saudi nationals.

A recent Gallup Global Wellbeing Survey reports that 69 percent of Saudis are "struggling" when it comes to quality of life. Average income has generally been in decline for decades. Employment rates are reported variously, but consistently show high unemployment, with rates between 10 and 25 percent since the early 2000s. Foreigners hold the vast majority of private-sector jobs, with most Saudis employed by the government.

Some observers suggest that the higher education system in Saudi Arabia, while well-funded, is poorly preparing graduates to enter professional life. Limitations on how and where women may participate in the workforce also drag down family well-being. It has been reported that nearly three-fifths of Saudi Arabia's 20 million citizens live on income of less than $850 per month.

A transforming society

Saudi family structure is evolving, with a gradual decline in average size and a recent drop to just below six persons per family. Other factors impact household conditions: more family members living independently, increasing divorce rates, women working, and ironically, a growing use of domestic support staff.

Most importantly, a bulging youth population comes with rising expectations. Young people are demanding better quality of life and improved living conditions and public services. This generation trends toward urban living, with greater acceptance of smaller plots and apartments. Public spaces are of greater interest to these groups.

Among the challenges that Saudis face:

Housing shortages. The Saudi housing shortage has been pegged at anywhere from 500,000 to more than one million units. With almost half of the population under age 25, the demand is expected to increase dramatically in the next 10 years as that generation establishes households. Massive migration to urban centers is under way, with Saudis seeking access to employment, services, and enhanced life style.

High land and development costs. In the Middle East, it is difficult for developers to acquire land at a price that allows them to deliver housing affordably. Speculation and land trading have been factors in these rising costs. The price of land in major Saudi cities can be over 3,000 Saudi Riyals, or $800 per square meter.

Low financial returns. High costs result in low financial returns and lower quality housing, and they discourage the development of housing that most Saudis can afford. It has been estimated that 85 percent of Saudis cannot afford basic housing, resulting in their renting overcrowded units.

Limited access to finance. Mortgage financing is still rare, making it difficult for families to buy the homes that are available. Banks have been reluctant to lend mortgages in Saudi Arabia because of unclear regulations that could lead to lengthy court disputes in cases of default. Recently, however, a new mortgage law was passed to improve conditions for both lenders and borrowers.

Saudi Arabia's Real Estate Development Fund, which provides interest-free loans, has granted at least 600,000 loans since it started in 1975. But there is a long waiting list. The fund recently relaxed its regulations, with loan amounts increased to 500,000 Saudi Riyals, or about $133,000 — but that amount may be inadequate to construct a basic housing unit.

Affordable housing shortcomings

Affordable housing projects are a challenge in many places around the world, and some have failed notoriously. In analyzing these precedents and in preparing plans for Saudi affordable housing communities, the Saudi Arabian Parsons Ltd. design team arrived at a number of insights:

Uniformity. Sociologists suggest that uniformity in housing is problematic because people everywhere desire some sense of individuality and personal identity. People want to feel that their lives are unique and meaningful. Large undifferentiated building blocks suggest mass production and indifference.

Public realm. The public realm must likewise be special. It represents the level of commitment that a government makes to its citizens. The quality of the public realm is measured not in terms of materials and finishes, but rather in terms of desirability: Is it comfortable, attractive, and engaging?

Community facilities. Housing projects without schools, religious facilities, shopping, health care, police, and other facilities cannot be defined as communities. Much affordable housing is built without these facilities in order to maximize the residential yield, but they fall short.

Current patterns

Saudi development patterns have played a role in the escalation of environmental, social, and economic predicaments, just as they have in much of the world. A sampling of these impacts is highlighted below — with data from Worldmapper, a nonprofit mapping project led by cartographers at the University of Sheffield.

The world's ecological footprint, measuring the consumption of food, fuel, wood, and other goods, is growing most quickly in the Middle East. Human health and safety is a growing concern there, too.

Energy depletion reflects the reduction of some finite energy resources: coal, crude oil, and natural gas.

The U.S. has the highest depletion rate, followed by Russia, Saudi Arabia, and Iran.

Increase in annual fuel use has been greatest in Eastern Asia in recent years. But in Saudi Arabia domestic consumption is increasing at eight percent annually. Recent reports have suggested that Saudi Arabia may have to import oil by 2030.

In the last several decades, about three-quarters of the world's territories have increased carbon dioxide emissions. The largest increases per person occurred in the Middle East, most notably in Qatar, Bahrain, and Saudi Arabia.

Water depletion — the proportion of all water used relative to freshwater resources — is another problem. Saudi Arabia is quickly depleting its primary water source: groundwater.

Recent statistics suggest that Saudi Arabia ranks highest internationally in the incidence of diabetes for all people over the age of 15. As of 2010, Saudi Arabia was in the bottom half of all countries in the duration of poor health per capita. And it has about five times as many traffic accident deaths per 100,000 people as the United Kingdom.

The consultant design team working for the Saudi Arabian government has suggested that many of these challenges could be largely mitigated by improved development patterns. In other words, compact, mixed use, community-oriented development could address these issues head-on. This approach facilitates more affordable housing and results in less land, water, and energy consumption; improved water quality; potentially better education; safer streets; and improved personal health and quality of life.

Government response

Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Housing was established in 2011 to address multiple needs, including the need for numerous affordable housing units. The ministry initially focused on delivering 500,000 units, with the first phase targeting nearly 100,000 villas and apartments across 17 new communities.

Saudi Arabian Parsons Ltd. is responsible for this initial phase. The SAPL contract includes program management, master planning and design, building design guidelines, development control guidelines, design of the public realm and infrastructure, and construction supervision for the 17 sites across about 74 million square meters or 28.5 square miles of land. The sites range in size from one to 10 million square meters and are situated across Saudi Arabia.

Twelve of the initial sites are under construction, and another site is currently being tendered. The Ministry of Housing is constructing site infrastructure and will transfer vertical development to developers this year. 
The sites have been planned as complete communities and will include schools, health care, mosques, police and civil defense, a range of retail facilities, parks and recreation, libraries, and in some cases employment. Infrastructure construction value for the initial sites is estimated at $13.6 billion in U.S. dollars.

Guiding principles

As part of this overall effort, the SAPL team developed principles to guide community development and assure a meaningful response to national challenges.

These principles include:

Compact, mixed use community. The idea is to focus on cohesive neighborhoods and a complete set of community facilities to provide nearly all daily needs. Most of the communities include a range of facilities at the neighborhood, district and community, and in some cases, regional levels. Neighborhood offerings are walkable, and higher level facilities are positioned close to higher density residential areas.

Mosques and local retail, as well as shared parking and public spaces, are also part of the mix, as are employment opportunities, although jobs tend to be in the core urban centers.

Environmental fit. Plans were organized for each site to preserve existing natural features, allow natural drainage patterns to occur, recharge groundwater, mitigate erosion and soil loss, and build only where geotechnical conditions suggest viable construction.

Viable density. While Saudi Arabia is quickly urbanizing, many Saudis dislike higher density living because of the perception that it doesn't afford the privacy or separation they expect. However, higher density accomplishes more long-term objectives, and fits best with affordability requirements.

Determining the most viable and acceptable density wasn't easy. In the end, a mix of densities seemed the best choice. The team organized a density gradient that transitions from low-density villas to mid-density apartments to higher density mixed use development.

The intent here is to get most people living closest to the mixed use core, to maximize walkability and minimize vehicle miles traveled. Privacy issues are addressed with careful transitions between low- and high-density development, to minimize views between units. Small-scale floorplates were developed, with a maximum of four family units per floor, also facilitating privacy.

Transit orientation. Public transportation in Saudi Arabia is underdeveloped, but plans and even construction, in some cases, are under way. Municipalities are helping to fill the gaps by creating plans for public transportation locally and finding opportunities to link them to these new communities and mixed use centers.

Hierarchy of centers. The neighborhood unit drives the organization of the plans. A hierarchical organization is based on a walkable neighborhood cluster, with several clusters forming a complete neighborhood. Three to four neighborhoods make up a district. Cluster centers, neighborhood centers, and district centers are programmed and sized hierarchically to serve graduated needs.

A cluster is defined by a five-minute walk or 300-meter (1,000-foot) radius and has at its center daily needs including a local mosque, corner grocery store, kindergarten, and a small park. A neighborhood center includes larger facilities such as a Juma Mosque (the main community mosque), primary school, and neighborhood retail.

Diversity within standardization. Uniformity can be problematic in social housing. The team addresses this by first establishing a standard set of buildings that allow economization and then, within these standards, creating facade block variations to add interest and diversity.

Commitment to the public realm. If the public realm represents the level of commitment that a government makes to its citizens, the Ministry of Housing acknowledges its need to upgrade that pledge and aspires to establish a new standard in these communities. That commitment manifests itself as an integrated and safe infrastructure network, a consistent level of quality and maintenance, and a level of comfort and beauty that makes these spaces desirable destinations.

A key part of that is providing comfort — an especially important consideration in hot and dry desert environments. If welcoming public spaces attract more people for longer periods, the benefits include economic development, community development, and maybe even personal health. Shade, ventilation, plants, art, safety, lighting, light-colored pavements, and scale all play a role in crafting comfortable, desirable destinations.

Smaller public spaces. Many planners believe that compact, mixed use communities provide significant environmental, social, and economic benefits. In that regard, smaller scale public spaces make sense. In SAPL's planning efforts for Saudi Arabia, small-scale apartment courtyards are used to establish a managed set of immediate relationships between residents. In addition, bigger is not better in the heat of the desert, where large open spaces are generally less comfortable than small, shaded spaces close to buildings.

Smaller streets. People tend to prefer smaller scale streets. In addition, those streets require less pavement, which means less land consumption, less heat build-up, less flood potential, lower driving speeds and fewer accidents, and closer relationships between neighbors.

Energy and water consumption. A number of ideas have been put forward to reduce energy and water consumption: treated sewage effluent for irrigation water, drought-tolerant landscapes, "smart" irrigation systems, minimal use of lawns, and LED lighting.

It was initially suggested that new buildings include minimal glazing on their south and west facades, to minimize heat build-up and energy use. But mass-produced housing makes it difficult to customize facade design, and consequently this effort was not fully used.

Water quality management. It doesn't rain much in Saudi Arabia, but rainfall can be torrential. And water resources are in short supply. Water quality management practices can help capture stormwater runoff in a system of connected open spaces, filtering it through landscape systems and recharging groundwater supplies.

National housing strategy

The Saudi Ministry of Housing completed a National Housing Strategy in 2011. I have promoted a number of key objectives to support the plan: Align development patterns with a national mission; determine strategic relationships between housing and economic development; focus on community building, not solely the manufacture of housing units; and strategically determine where to build — and where not to build — for environmental, economic, and social benefits.

These objectives will require the development of new housing types, community development patterns, and improved municipal regulations. Subsidies and incentives may be necessary to attract private developers. Mixed use and transit-oriented development will be integral to sustainable development practices, and improved community facilities and a high-quality public realm will drive these models.

Saudi Arabia is investing in its people, diversifying the economy, and providing education, housing, infrastructure, and tourism development. Moreover, the Saudi government recently announced that all large projects will need to be aligned to national strategies. That gives us reason to be optimistic for the people of Saudi Arabia.

Chuck Ware is a principal with Design Workshop, a planning, urban design, and landscape architecture firm with 10 offices across the U.S., China, and the UAE. He previously served as principal urban designer with Saudi Arabian Parsons Ltd., where he played a lead role in the development of the affordable housing work described in this article.

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Images: Top — The first phase of Saudi Arabia's efforts to solve the country's affordable housing shortage includes nearly 100,000 units across 17 new communities. Where possible, the design team sought walkable proximities between housing, retail, jobs, schools, mosques, and culture. Courtesy Saudi Arabian Parsons Ltd. Middle — Compact, mixed used, community-oriented development patterns drive Saudi Arabia's affordable housing plans. Courtesy Saudi Arabian Parsons Ltd. Bottom — The housing site in Dammam, the capital of Saudi Arabia's Eastern Province, includes a mix of regional facilities and community. Courtesy Saudi Arabian Parsons Ltd.

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