A financial analyst has said that 82 percent of Saudi earners are classified as part of the “low income group”. Abdul Aziz Al-Dakhil, speaking at a recent real estate forum, said that 82 percent of Saudis have monthly incomes of below SR8,000, making them part of the low income classification. “This is the group most in need of housing,” said Al-Dakhil at a session entitled “Whose responsibility is the housing problem?” “The private sector and banks will not be able to provide even minimum adequate accommodation without interest-free long-term loans.” The government, Al-Dakhil said, should therefore assume the responsibility of providing suitable housing in healthy environments. “If this limited income group lives in unhygienic living environments it will have negative educational and health effects,” he said. “First we need large grants to be stopped and the Real Estate Fund to be turned into a housing bank fully owned by the government.” Al-Dakhil concluded by saying that most health problems were the “product of unhygienic housing environments and the worry produced by the concern that people don't own their own houses”.
