Home repairs joy for the needy

By RASHA AL QAHTANI
MANAMA
ELDERLY couples, widows, divorced women and single parents will soon benefit from a BD500,000 scheme for the renovation and expansion of their homes. The scheme, launched by Municipalities and Agriculture Ministry, provides each governorate with BD100,000 to renovate homes for a maximum of BD5,000 each.
It is designed to help needy Bahraini homeowners who are not eligible for existing government housing services or benefiting from the BD120m project initiated by His Majesty King Hamad to upgrade 6,000 dilapidated houses in five years.
Bahrainis must have an income not exceeding BD350 to be eligible for the scheme, carried out in co-operation with the five municipal councils.
Capital Municipal-ity member Abdulaziz Al Khaja said municipal councils have already started distributing application forms to charity funds who can pass them to needy families.
"Once these forms are filled out, we will collect them and look at the cases most in need of renovations," he told the GDN.
"Not only will there be renovations, but we will also be adding rooms if a case arises that there are too many people living in one house."
Mr Al Khaja said extensions could include new kitchens, extra bedrooms or bathrooms.
"Many people are living under very poor conditions, their houses are too cramped for the size of the family," he said.
"Sometimes these homes have only two bedrooms for a 10-member family, which can barely hold all of them in two small rooms.
"Other cases include kitchens and bathrooms in really bad conditions, which can become unhygienic for family members and attract pests.
"What the project mainly does is help these families with maintenance and extensions for their homes."