Engineer Randa El Menshawy, Minister of Housing, Utilities, and Urban Communities, chaired a meeting of the Board of Directors of the Social Housing and Mortgage Finance Fund to review several files and topics related to the offering and execution of housing units under the presidential initiative “Housing for All Egyptians.”
The meeting was attended by Mai Abdel Hamid, CEO of the Social Housing and Mortgage Finance Fund; members of the board; Dr. Walid Abbas, Deputy Minister for Urban Communities; Engineer Ahmed Omran, Deputy Minister for Utilities; and a number of ministry officials.
At the start of the meeting, Engineer Randa El Menshawy highlighted that since President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi took office, the Egyptian state has placed significant focus on providing suitable housing within integrated urban communities that include complete services for youth and low-income citizens. She explained that the state launched the largest housing initiative through the presidential program “Housing for All Egyptians” across all governorates and new cities nationwide.
The initiative also covers middle-income housing units, in addition to introducing a partnership program with the private sector to implement and provide additional housing units within the initiative, affirming the continuation of efforts to realize this vision.
Progress of Units Under the Presidential Initiative “Housing for All Egyptians”
During the meeting, Mai Abdel Hamid reviewed the overall implementation status of low-income housing units under the presidential initiative “Housing for All Egyptians.” She stated that 809,185 housing units have already been completed, while construction work continues on an additional 200,271 units.
She also presented the implementation status of middle-income housing units within the initiative, noting that 32,456 units have either been completed or are currently under construction in several governorates and new cities, alongside 54,600 green housing units.
The meeting further reviewed the fund’s key performance indicators, including mortgage financing provided to low-income citizens, which reached EGP 99.7 billion in mortgage loans and EGP 10.4 billion in cash subsidies for 688,000 beneficiaries through 23 banks and 8 financing companies. Mortgage financing for middle-income citizens reached EGP 5 billion, benefiting 14,110 citizens through 11 banks and 4 financing companies.
Mai Abdel Hamid also reviewed the efforts of the Social Housing and Mortgage Finance Fund’s complaints, inquiries, and suggestions system. Engineer Randa El Menshawy stressed the importance of maintaining the highest levels of rapid and ongoing responses to citizens’ complaints and inquiries in order to strengthen trust, emphasizing that addressing citizens’ concerns remains a top priority.
The Minister of Housing also underlined the need to respond to citizens as quickly as possible and handle their complaints, inquiries, and suggestions in a way that reinforces the ministry’s credibility and clarifies facts to prevent the spread of misleading or inaccurate information.
For her part, Mai Abdel Hamid explained that the fund gives significant attention to citizens’ complaints and inquiries. As a result, it launched an official specialized platform dedicated to receiving complaints and inquiries through the following link: Social Housing Complaints Platform.
She added that the platform has received nearly 523,300 complaints, inquiries, and suggestions, with a response rate reaching 99%. Complaints represented 60% of all messages received, while inquiries accounted for 39.75%, and suggestions made up 0.25%.
She noted that one of the most common complaints and inquiries concerns “some citizens being negatively affected by the rejection of their applications despite paying the reservation deposit and all quarterly installments over three years.”
In response, she clarified that the fund offers housing units still under construction, and applicants are transferred to the field investigation stage once the units in the selected project are ready and after all quarterly installments have been paid.
If the application passes this stage, it is then transferred to the credit inquiry phase through financing entities before final contract procedures are completed, as clearly outlined in the terms and conditions booklets of the fund’s various announcements.
She further explained that citizens applying for housing units upload their required documents through the fund’s official website, including income verification certificates covering all sources of income at the time of application.
Applicants also confirm the accuracy of the submitted documents and consent to investigations verifying their validity, as well as reviews of all additional sources of income through all available methods.
Once the housing units are completed, all field and credit investigations begin, in addition to checks conducted through the Egyptian state’s integrated databases. If inaccurate information is discovered, the application is rejected, as applicants bear full responsibility for the accuracy of the submitted data and acknowledge this during the application process.
Mai Abdel Hamid explained that applications may be rejected for several reasons, including discrepancies between the data submitted during the application process and the findings of field investigations regarding income or ownership of residential units; unfavorable results from credit inquiries conducted through financing entities according to central bank regulations; or because the applicant had previously benefited from a housing unit or plot of land provided by the state.
This is in line with the provisions of Social Housing Law No. 93 of 2018, specifically Article 19, which states: “Any person who submits false information or uses fraud or deception before authorities concerned with social housing, or assists in doing so, with the aim of obtaining a housing unit, plot of land, or support from the fund, shall be punished by imprisonment and a fine ranging from fifty thousand Egyptian pounds to one hundred thousand Egyptian pounds, or by either of these penalties.”
She also confirmed that all citizens have the right to appeal rejected applications within a maximum period of one year from the rejection date. Applicants are notified of their application status through text messages sent to the phone number registered with the fund during the application process.
Citizens can also follow up on their application status through several communication channels provided by the fund, including the fund’s official Facebook page and the customer service hotline via the following numbers: 5999, 5777, or 1188 from any mobile phone, and 090071117 from any landline.
If more than one year passes after the rejection date — whether due to field investigations, credit inquiries, previous benefit status, or other reasons — the application is considered permanently rejected according to the regulations and conditions stated in the official terms and conditions booklets provided to citizens.
The CEO of the Social Housing and Mortgage Finance Fund also pointed out that some applicants submit complaints regarding the withdrawal of reservation deposits or difficulties encountered during the withdrawal process. In this regard, she clarified that all clients of the “Housing for All Egyptians” projects can recover their reservation deposits and quarterly installments through the nearest automated post office branch.
In cases where citizens face difficulties withdrawing their reservation deposits, they are advised to access the complaints, inquiries, and suggestions platform and submit a complaint so the issue can be addressed promptly through the following link: Social Housing Complaints Platform.