Tunis: The State is set to increase social housing for low-income families through targeted interventions, benefiting 11,770 households across all governorates under the Specific Programme for Social Housing (PSLS), Prime Minister Sarra Zaafrani Zenzri announced.
According to Agence Tunis Afrique Presse, during a joint plenary session of the Assembly of People's Representatives and the National Council of Regions and Districts devoted to the presentation of the 2026 State Budget and economic budget, the Prime Minister highlighted ongoing efforts under the first home scheme. This initiative aims to support families and middle-income earners in financing the purchase of houses built by authorised real estate developers as well as from private individuals other than developers.
The State will provide both individual and collective social housing units and develop social housing plots for vulnerable groups. Zenzri revealed a plan for 13,400 housing units, with an estimated total cost of TND 1.093 billion. The first phase, already underway, has completed 8,400 housing units and serviced plots. The second phase, slated to begin in 2026, will construct 5,000 additional social housing units at an estimated cost of TND 505 million.
The Prime Minister further announced that TND 63 million will be allocated to the Social Housing Promotion Fund to enhance its intervention programmes. Additionally, TND 25 million will be directed towards the rent-to-own mechanism and the instalment-based housing purchase mechanism, which may be adopted by public real estate developers.
Zenzri emphasized the importance of controlling project costs to ensure repayment capacity is preserved, particularly for low- and limited-income households. She also reiterated measures introduced to facilitate access to decent housing, such as extending the first home scheme to cover financing for self-construction and reducing VAT from 13% to 7% on housing units costing no more than TND 400,000.
Zenzri also recalled the procedures in place for the acquisition of state-owned or municipal land through the Housing Land Agency to provide serviced social housing plots at preferential prices.