Making sense of Malé's social housing crisis
A breakdown and timeline of the Gedhoruveriya scheme.
Artwork: Dosain
11 Mar, 4:00 PM
Hassan Moosa
What happened?
Hundreds of people who were assured flats on a final list of recipients chosen by the previous administration were disqualified after a review and verification process undertaken by the current administration.
Why is housing such a big deal?
More than 40 percent of the population is crammed into the tiny capital island of Malé, including over 100,000 non-native residents who migrated from other islands and pay exorbitant rents.
What was done to address the housing crisis?
The previous Maldivian Democratic Party government created two schemes: Gedhoruveriya (apartments for long-term residents) and Binveriya (land plots exclusively for native Malé residents).
What was Gedhoruveriya?
A social housing scheme launched in June 2022 with Indian developers contracted to build 4,000 apartments in Hulhumalé. An online portal called Gedhoruverin was set up for submissions.
The scheme was open to both native residents (those born and registered in the capital) and long-term non-native residents of Malé. To be eligible, applicants were required to:
Be a Maldivian citizen
Be 18 years of age
Be a registered resident of Malé for 15 years or have lived continuously for a period of at least 15 years
Not have been a beneficiary of a previous government housing project
Not own a plot of land larger than 600 square feet or have signed an agreement to buy such a property
Not have sold a land of more than 600sq ft in the three years prior to application
Not have a monthly income exceeding MVR 60,000 (US$ 3,890)
How many people wanted the flats?
ާA total of 20,697 people applied by an extended deadline of October 15, 2022, underscoring the unsurprisingly high demand for affordable housing in Greater Malé. But the number was somewhat lower than the 25,000 applications for the 7,000-flat Hiya social housing project in 2018.
How many were assured of housing?
About 15,000 people were deemed eligible and nearly 5,000 (including co-applicants) were shortlisted for the first 4,000 flats under construction at the time. Qualification required applicants to score at least 73 points and 76 points, respectively, for two-bedroom and three-bedroom apartments, which were to be leased under a rent-to-own model.
How many were excluded?
A total of 3,119 people were disqualified, including 2,695 people who were determined to be ineligible upon re-evaluation, whilst 424 people were excluded after falling below the minimum points threshold.
Why were they disqualified?
The most common reason was lack of documents to prove uninterrupted residency in Malé for 15 years, according to the government. Gaps of more than a year resulted in disqualification. Many documents previously accepted as proof of residency were rejected during the verification process, creating gaps of more than one year for many applicants.
Can disqualified applicants appeal?
Yes, they have until March 31 to submit complaints, but they cannot provide any new documentation – only explain their situation in a limited text box.
More than 1,000 complaints were filed in less than a week. The opposition Maldivian Democratic Party and Democrats have set up help desks to register and submit complaints. The Malé City Council has also offered help with submitting complaints.
What’s next?
Lawsuits have been floated. Both disqualified applicants and opposition parties insist that the government is legally obligated to honour an agreement signed with chosen recipients by the state-owned housing developer Fahi Dhiriulhun Corporation during the MDP government.
Timeline of events
20 September 2022 - Deadline for applications extended until 15 October 2022.
15 October 2022 - A total 20,697 people applied for the scheme by the final deadline.
22 February 2023 - Committee created to oversee Binveriya and Gedhoruveriya selection.
2 August 2023 - Fahi Dhiriulhun Corporation signs agreement with Indian company KPIL to build 4,000 additional housing units.
8 August 2023 - Provisional list released with 13,000 out of 20,600 applicants classified as eligible for the scheme. The ministry announced it will visit households to verify “standard of living” before the list is finalised. A complaint period of 15 days was set. Ahead of the September 2023 presidential election, President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih pledged to provide housing to all eligible applicants.
28 October 2023 - President-elect Dr. Mohamed Muizzu promised to honour commitments to selected applicants if a final list of awardees is published before he takes office.
4 November 2023 - The finalised list of successful applicants published in the government gazette.
5 November 2023 - The Anti-Corruption Commission orders the housing ministry to halt any work on handing over the flats, pending a new complaints period to accept and address grievances.
15 November 2023 - The revised permanent list is published. Two-bedroom units awarded to applicants who scored above 73 points and three-bedroom units awarded to applicants who scored higher than 76 points. The remaining units to be awarded through a lottery draw among applicants who scored 75 points.
16 November 2023 - Fahi Dhiriulhun Corporation signs agreements with some recipients, despite objections from the Anti-Corruption Commission.
20 November 2023 - The new administration will carry out a review of the flat list following the advice of the Anti-Corruption Commission, new Housing Minister Dr Ali Haidar announced.
2 January 2024 - The recipients of the flats will receive registries of the flats within the following week, President Dr Mohamed Muzzu said.
11 January 2024 - Housing ministry objects to handing over registries, pending the outcome of an investigation by the Anti-Corruption Commission
1 February 2024 - The Anti-Corruption Commission authorised the housing ministry to resume the housing scheme, directing it to review problematic applications according to a standardised procedure and to establish methods for handling issues not addressed in the original policy.
5 February 2024 - The Anti-Corruption Commission announced that over 60 percent of the applicants selected for the scheme did not meet the eligibility criteria. A further 19 percent of applications were found to have other issues.
13 February 2024 - After ACC clearance, the handing over process will begin “starting next week,” Housing Minister Haidar told a parliamentary committee.
27 April 2024 - A review of the housing scheme being carried out by an independent committee is still ongoing, the housing minister said.
13 October 2024 - The government is aiming to publish a final list of flat recipients by the end of October, Haidar said.
28 October 2024 - Housing ministry announces another re-evaluation of the flat list, citing problems with the previously reviewed list compiled by the presidential housing advisory committee and the Malé City Council's housing consultative committee. The re-evaluation will be complete by mid-November, the ministry assured.
9 November 2024 - An interim list will be announced “next week” following the review, Haidar said.
17 November 2024 - Protesters gather at the Housing Ministry office over delays in publishing the flat list.
12 December 2024 - A fire completely destroys the housing ministry office building in Malé. But the loss of documents and damaged serves would not affect the ongoing review process, the ministry assured.
26 December 2024 - Dr Ali Haidar reassigned as Minister of Higher Education, Labour and Skills Development. Housing ministry merged with the construction and infrastructure ministry as part of the cabinet reshuffle.
14 January 2025 - New Housing and Construction Minister Abdulla Muththalib announces a fresh verification of the flat list is underway. The verification process will only review the nearly 5,000 applicants shortlisted for the 4,000 flats nearing completion, he said.
27 February 2025 - Muthalib announces the “verified” list of applicants.