In order to motivate citizens to participate directly in the urban transformation program, the authorities decided to subsidize not only the participation of Turkish citizens in strengthening their own housing, but also rent payments for those who agreed to move.
So, currently, assistance in renting housing in the amount of 1,500 Turkish liras (TL) is provided to residents of three provinces, the «capitals» of which are the largest megacities of Turkey: Ankara, Istanbul and Izmir. While in other provinces this amount is 929 TL.
Unfortunately, taking into account the rapid growth of rental rates, there are a lot of places where this amount turns out to be only symbolic: neither the full rental payment, nor even any tangible part of it, can be compensated with it. As a result, low-income families disapprove of the program that forces them to leave housing - even emergency, but their own, or if rented for a long time, then cheap (because of its deplorable condition) and rent something much more expensive.
Thus, in order to maintain the pace of implementation of the urban transformation project, it will be necessary to significantly increase the amount of compensation paid to citizens within the framework of their rent. Now the option of increasing this amount to 3,000-5,000 TL is being discussed, but the exact figures have not yet been named.
The Ministry of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change continues to study this issue, deciding what else can be helped. Because in the same Istanbul, where even the average rent in a number of sought-after areas reaches 20,000 TL per month, compensation in the amount of 1,500 TL looks ridiculous at the moment. Not to mention covering the monthly payment to a large extent or almost completely – as originally intended.
It is for this reason that the urban transformation project does not enjoy the proper support of low-income segments of the population.