September 3, 2021
The Majlis has rejected the very first legislation requested by President Ebrahim Raisi just 10 days after Raisi took office.
Raisi has made housing construction a priority and asked that the housing component of the Ministry of Transport and Urban Development be split off so that housing could be given more stature and attention.
The motion to make a separate housing ministry was rejected August 15 on a vote of 127 to 104 with five deputies abstaining and 54 absent.
Raisi has announced sweeping plans for expansion of housing for the poor. He promised during his presidential campaign in June that his government would build one million affordable houses in the country each year. Housing for the poor was also a priority under the administration of President Mahmud Ahmadi-nejad.
Raisi has nominated Rostam Qassemi, a former oil minister with long experience in the construction sector, for minister of transport and urban development. Qassemi has said his priority would be to allocate more loans and grants to renters to help them with soaring rents.
Lawmakers opposing the creation of a new ministry for housing said that the plan would need huge financial resources.
Others, however, said the plan would help streamline plans in the transportation and housing sectors in Iran and would help the government better control the housing market in the country.
Housing and transportation were once separate ministries, but were combined a decade ago as part of a grand plan to cut down the number of ministries, a plan that saw many ministries doubled up.