People whose spouses own housing to be allowed to apply for land

President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu has announced the decision to introduce a new category to allow people whose spouses own housing to also apply for land under his administration’s new housing project.

He made the announcement on Thursday while delivering his annual address to the Parliament.

The Housing Ministry opened applications for the Ailee Boahiyavahikan Program in January, offering 15,000 land plots and 7,900 flats from the greater Male’ area.

But the eligibility criteria currently disqualify applications for land where an applicant’s spouse holds a land plot larger than 400 square feet in Male’ region.

In his annual address, President Muizzu announced plans to introduce an additional category to allow such individuals to apply for land.

“With applications open for the Ailee Boahiyaavakan Program – designed for families that lack any housing – a separate category will be introduced to allow people to apply for land even if their wife or husband has housing, in order to facilitate housing for all citizens,” he said.

President Muizzu added that a new category will also be introduced to allow people who received land under the previous administration’s ‘Binveriya’ scheme through joint-applications who agree to relinquish their claim to the plot and apply for a separate land plot.

The criterion disqualifying people from applying for housing if their spouse holds a land plot larger than 400 square feet in Male’ region has met with pushback from the public, with some questioning what would happen if the couple were to get divorced.

In a LinkedIn post in January, Housing Minister Dr. Abdulla Muthalib acknowledged these concerns, but said that the policy prioritizing families with no home or land plot at all in order to prevent the deepest form of housing insecurity first, which is not only fair, but necessary.

Applications for the Aailee Boahiyavahikan Program must be submitted via a dedicated digital portal. Applications for land plots closes at 11:59 pm on March 5, while applications for flats close at 11:59 pm on April 18.

The scheme offers 7,900 flats from the greater Male’ region and 15,000 plots of 1,250 square feet from the greater Male’ region and Rasmale’. The land scheme is divided into two categories. Registered residents of Male’ and other priority category applicants will receive land from greater Male’ and Rasmale’, while people from other islands who reside in Male’ will receive land from Rasmale’.