MP pushes for housing eligibility law overhaul

TDT | Manama

Email: mail@newsofbahrain.com

Get a promotion, lose your home. That’s the reality for many Bahrainis who spend years waiting for a housing unit — only to find that a pay rise knocks them off the list.

MP Jalal Kadhem is pushing for a law that would fix eligibility at the time of application, stopping future income changes from upending people’s chances.

Applicants, he said, often see their requests scrapped or shifted to financing schemes the moment their earnings creep up after receiving an allocation certificate.

“This strips people of a right they’ve waited years for,” Jalal Kadhem said. “It flies in the face of Bahrain’s Constitution, which says the state must provide proper housing for those on low wages.”

He pointed out that a working life stretches over decades, bringing experience, promotions, and better wages — natural progress that shouldn’t leave people worse off.

“If you’re waiting twenty years for a home, should you have to turn down a better job just to keep your place in the queue?” he said.

The proposal, he explained, would stop Bahrainis from having to choose between improving their lot or keeping a roof over their heads.

He warned that constant checks on earnings were throwing housing lists into chaos, making an already long process even slower.