IJHMA 4,1. Received 24 March 2010 Revised 14 July 2010 Accepted 20 July 2010

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1 The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at wwwemeraldinsightcom/ htm IJHMA, 8 Received 2 March 200 Revised July 200 Accepted 20 July 200 Developing affordable housing design for low income in Sana a, Yemen Wa el Alaghbari Architecture Department, Faculty of Engineering, Sana a University, Sana a, Republic of Yemen and Architecture Department, Faculty of Design and Architecture, University Putra Malaysia, Serdang, Malaysia Azizah Salim and Kamariah Dola Architecture Department, Faculty of Design and Architecture, University Putra Malaysia, UPM Serdang, Malaysia, and Abang Abdullah Abang Ali Housing Research Center, Civil Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering, University Putra Malaysia, Serdang, Malaysia Abstract Purpose Housing costs are very high in Yemen compared with Middle East countries, which caused a shortage of housing supply especially for low-income groups This paper aims to develop affordable housing design for people with low income and to examine their ability to afford houses in Sana a, Yemen Design/methodology/approach Two different questionnaires were used to achieve the study objectives The first one was to examine the requirements and needs of low-income groups, while the second was to analyze the feedback of professionals in relevant housing authorities in Sana a An affordable house design methodology was used to design alternatives of low-income housing in order to minimize cost and environmental impact while maximizing the social acceptability in housing projects Findings The results show that the low-income group can afford new houses in Sana a in consideration of the following: constructing multi-storey housing units such as apartment system through using the concrete frame structure and building the internal and external walls with concrete blocks with limited areas (65-20) square meters Originality/value The findings could be used to improve housing affordability through housing policies in Yemen in order to decrease the housing shortage particularly for the low-income group Keywords Housing, Prices, Low pay, Yemen Paper type Research paper International Journal of Housing Markets and Analysis Vol No, 20 pp 8-98 q Emerald Group Publishing Limited DOI 008/ Introduction Housing plays a very important role in human life and human society is well known Housing has tremendous social and economic impact on the total living environment of the world It has direct and immediate influence on health, education, economy, environment, political and social life of any society (Sinha, 978) Housing Affordability, the rational for housing assistance, is to improve housing affordability for those

2 receiving the assistance (Australian Housing and Research Institute (AHURI), 200) Andrews (998) defined the term affordable housing as that which costs no more than 30 per cent of the income of the occupant household This is the generally accepted definition of housing affordability She also described severe housing burdens as 50 per cent or more of household income Families who pay more than 30 per cent of their income on housing are considered cost burdened and may have difficulty affording necessities such as food, clothing, education, transportation and medical care (UN, 996) The shortage of housing in developing countries for people of low-income group is of colossal magnitude Moreover, the high costs of construction by conventional method that is very slow considering the speed of the growth of demand Housing affordability is important for a wide range of reasons Perhaps, the most fundamental (economic) factor is that housing is the single largest expenditure item in the budgets of most individuals and households (Quigley and Raphael, 200) The benefits from addressing the problem of housing affordability will improve the functioning of the housing market Housing market constraints do not only affect housing conditions, but they also have implications on the unemployment rates, which were already high before a coming surge in the growth in the labour force, as well as the efficiency with which capital is used It is not a question of a shortage of housing capital but it is rather that the capital is expensive Yemen, Algeria and Iran will require dramatic productivity changes if they want to meet the employment challenge caused by high demographics (Baharoglu et al, 2005) This paper will focus in affordable housing design rather than availability is the main problem in Yemen The price of housing is extremely high in Yemen and one of the highest in the MENA region (Alaghbari et al, 2009) The affordability problem is largely the result of housing and land supply policies Additionally, the inadequate housing supply compared to the increasing demand and constrained flexibility with which the housing stock is used, contribute to the high housing prices and low levels of affordability The housing finance is undeveloped in Yemen The people build their houses by saving money or by getting family and friends loans The commercial banks in Yemen give the people short loans but with difficult mortgages and the high of interest rate (Sultan and Kajewski, 2003) Therefore, the low-income group is unable to get these loans and cannot afford housing with high price The need for houses is an essential problem low-income group often encounters There is housing shortage in Sana a caused by both the rapid growth of population and the rapid growth of demand for housing Consequently, this rapid growth of housing demand caused increasing in the housing cost and made the problem more complicated Therefore, urgent housing policies and strategies are needed in Yemen to decrease the housing shortage particularly for low-income group (Al-Ansi, 2006; Alaghbari et al, 2009; Djebarni and Al-Abed, 998) In its turn, this paper focuses factors that influence housing affordable design in order to recommend some housing policies to encourage in solving the housing shortage for low-income group in Yemen Affordable housing design 85 2 Affordable housing design The Queensland Government (200) and Alaghbari (200) indicates initiative in promoting good practice in the design and construction of residential dwellings It advances more sustainable housing in terms of:

3 IJHMA, 86 social sustainability universally designed, safe and secure; environmental sustainability resource efficient in waste, water and energy; and economic sustainability cost efficient over time Bordignon (998) presented that there are some criteria should be considered in the design of affordable housing These criteria as follows 2 Maximize social acceptability criteria Bordignon (998), Salama (2006) and Sidawi (2008) presented that poor housing conditions directly signify poor social conditions Therefore, a properly designed sustainable affordable housing project can provide homeowners with the positive social conditions necessary to promote strong community development A socially acceptable house will directly address the cultural needs of the people in terms of size, affordability and function as well as address the intangible benefits of housing such as security, safety, aesthetics, sense of accomplishment and the community (Friedman, 2005) According to Alaghbari (200), the following information related to social and cultural criteria is very important to design sustainable housing: () Family size (2) Yemeni culture: Yemeni traditions (privacy, men guests sitting room, day and night activities and invisible women); and Islamic rules (segregate adult sons and adult daughters in bedrooms) (3) Family income 22 Minimize cost criteria Too often, the initial construction costs of a home are overemphasized without acknowledging the total system costs involved in a housing project Total system cost includes the costs associated with the planning and design, construction, operating and maintenance and disposal of the house (Friedman, 2005; Alaghbari, 200) 23 Minimize environmental impact criteria Bordigon (998) presented that minimizing the stress a home places on the environment can contribute significantly to achieving a globally sustainable society, thereby ensuring future generation s equivalent housing opportunities Environmental considerations exist in the materials selected, construction procedure and operation of the housing system The following information related to the environmental criteria is very important to design sustainable housing: materials used and their suitability; resource-efficient in waste and water supply; and saving the energy 2 Physical characteristics impact criteria To increase efficiency in the systems design process, the engineer (designer) can increase the probability that the first design(s) concept is close to optimum by

4 recognizing that the unique environmental and socio-economic conditions of a location will directly influence the physical characteristics of a house design This section provides recommendations to help the designer concept a near optimum initial design alternative (Alaghbari et al, 200; Salama, 2006; Al-Kahtani and Al-Darzi, 2007) The following information related to physical characteristics criteria is very important to design sustainable housing: Housing types Single story house, double story house and detached or semi-detached houses and multi-story (high or low rise) Construction methods Traditional methods, vernacular methods or industrialized building systems industrialized building system (IBS) Structure Concrete frame, load bearing walls, mix structure, etc Materials used Internal and external walls Housing styles One bedroom, two bedrooms and three bedrooms Affordable housing design 87 3 Methodology Two different survey questionnaires were used to achieve the study objective The first was to examine the requirements and needs of low-income group, while the second was to analyze the feedbacks and suggestions from professionals in order to develop affordable housing design for low-income group in Yemen The samples were selected as follows: For the first questionnaire, the sampling selected from people living in two public housing areas, The Housing Credit Bank (60) units and The Yemen Bank for Reconstruction and Development (96 units), were sampled using random sampling method for visits by the researcher The total population in both areas is,36 units Mohit et al (2009) has selected 02 samples based on Yamuane (967) from a total of,896 house units In our study, 50 questionnaires were distributed by hand in both project areas in three groups One-week duration was taken to distribute 75 questionnaires personally to the selected respondents in three groups of 25 questionnaires each for one area A total of 33 filled questionnaires were returned to the researcher from the households of the two project areas However, 3 questionnaires were rejected because of uncompleted responses Therefore, a total of 20 completed questionnaires (60 samples per project) were used for analysis The percentage of returned questionnaires, after Mohit et al (2009), was computed as: The percentage of return samples ¼ ¼ 88:67% 50 This samples size represents 33 per cent of total housing population with 887 per cent confidence level, meaning 887 out of 00 households Therefore, the results should not vary more than ^3 per cent In the second questionnaire, a total of 60 samples were selected for the professionals interview survey, which was comprised of engineers, architects and consultants, who were working in the housing sector at the Ministry of Public Works and some companies in Yemen However, 55 samples were finally

5 IJHMA, 88 used in the analysis as five uncompleted samples were rejected A total of 29 per cent of the professionals in this survey are qualified civil engineering, 9 per cent architectures, 2 per cent project managers and 0 per cent workers in the housing sector In addition, three proposed designs (A, B and C) were used in this paper as examples for low-income housing alternatives These alternatives were designed in 2006 by Wa el Alaghbari for Al-Saleh Social Foundation for Development as a first project suggested for low-income housing after Yemeni unification in 22 May 990 where all housing projects stopped until 2007 These alternatives used to verify that they match the criteria mentioned earlier for the design of affordable housing for low-income and what are the criteria that can be added or modified in the design and implementation of future projects Affordable housing design Bordignon (998) designed system for affordable housing design and some modifications did for his system to be used in this paper A sustainable affordable house design is one that minimizes cost and environmental impact while maximizing the social acceptability However, the physical characteristics influence the affordable housing design These physical characteristics also influence the social, environmental and economic sustainability There are some criteria that should be considered in the design of affordable housing Through the results of this study about the low-income requirements and suggestions of professionals in the housing sector, a strategy to provide housing for low-income people and to establish a clear housing policy can be suggested This section will explore the criteria that can affect affordable housing in Sana a and to make sure that the low-income group has the ability to afford new houses Social needs analysis There are necessary needs that should be given more focus in the designing of housing projects These needs also include privacy, safety, security and stability of the housing to be developed Privacy Privacy shall be taken into consideration at the onset of designing the housing Privacy is divided to three sections, which are: () privacy between residents and neighbours; (2) privacy between residents and the visitors/guests; and (3) privacy among the residents Islamic rules and Yemeni traditions have imposed prohibition of mixing between males and females in their communities Moreover, the brothers and sisters who are older than 2- years (adulthood age) cannot sleep in the same room together Al-Kurdi (2002a, b) and Darweesh (2003) have researched into housing in Saudi Arabia and pointed out that the lifestyle aspect has not been considered in the present housing design associated with the lifestyle in Saudi Arabia such as the visual and sound privacy The absence of this aspect has enforced the owners to carry out renovations to suite their lifestyle Functional distribution Based on the requirement that the house should be adequate as affordable housing, its design has divided the house into two sections day section,

6 which has two parts, which are the guest area and the family living area; and night section, which has bedrooms Figures and 5 show the cultural criteria and functions distributing considerations which are as follows: Guest area includes sitting room called Dewan This room can be used either for men or for women meetings Sitting room or Dewan is usually attached with WC to be separated from other components of the house In some designs, the reception area is also attached to the guest area Sometimes Dewan is used for sleeping in some special cases The living area includes the living area for family sitting and gathering to watch TV or talking and the kitchen In the night section of the design, bedrooms and bathrooms are included This section is distant, isolated, quiet and calm This section is also close to the living area for night activities as well as watching TV The number of bedrooms is influenced by some factors, which are the size of family, the number of children, their ages and their gender Affordable housing design 89 Sidawi (2008) has supported the same design method and proposed that the users lifestyle should have the social dimension that is the need for space for individual to socialize with family, relatives, guests and neighbours Safety and physical stability The flexibility in housing design is very important to enable the residents to move inside the houses with more security If visitors cannot explore the house from the first sight, it means that the house design is more secure and stable for the residents Sidawi (2008) clarified that the house spacing should provide residents with feeling of security and safety but he has included safety and security under psychological dimension 2 Economic analysis Alaghbari et al (2008) found that the economic condition and incertitude cost of exchange money is within the top ten factors influencing the housing cost in Yemen The economic criteria included many factors that can affect the design of affordable housing for the low-income group in Yemen These factors include house size, construction cost of housing, monthly installment and physical characteristics House size The designer should study the different spaces for carrying out different functions fully without any waste of space Three alternatives were designed for families of the low-income group to cut down space wastage and hence total construction cost of housing Physical characteristics The following information related to the physical characteristic criteria is very important in designing sustainable housing: Housing types The results of the professionals questionnaire have indicated that the cost of land was the most significant factor affecting construction cost of housing in Sana a Therefore, multi-story apartments or flats were recommended to cut down the total construction cost of housing In the case of land distributed by the Government of Yemen, the double story semi-detached houses were recommended for units with more than three bedrooms Construction methods The results of the professionals questionnaire showed that the concrete frame was recommended to be used in low-cost housing

7 IJHMA, 90 especially so for multi-story buildings This was supported by Al-Kahtani and Al-Darzi (2007) Materials used for internal and external walls The results of the professionals questionnaire revealed that concrete blocks were recommended to be used in low-cost housing Specifically, concrete blocks of cm dimensions were recommended to be used in the construction of external walls, while concrete blocks of cm were recommended for internal walls This result was also supported by Al-Kahtani and Al-Darzi (2007) 3 Low-cost housing for low-income group in Sana a The first steps of the systems design procedure are to define the project goals and objectives and to collect the background information to examine the affordability of low-income in Sana a The affordable housing is to minimize cost, maximize social acceptability and minimize environmental impact The background information and the households requirements are collected using questionnaire and presented in this chapter to make police implementation In this paper, the first step in the systems design procedure was to define the project goals and objectives and to collect the background information to examine the affordability of low-income housing in Yemen The purpose of affordable housing is to minimize cost, maximize social acceptability and minimize environmental impact Three architectural alternatives were proposed for low-cost housing to accommodate the different sizes of low-income families in Yemen The recommended alternatives should meet the targeted cost, contain the required physical attributes and satisfy the determined minimum standards In designing, standardization is an important aspect The production of prefabricated doors and windows required a standard dimension, whether exterior or interior and should be independent of the materials used This standardization could result in design and construction cost savings The three alternatives proposed are: () Alternative A (one-bedroom unit) Alternative A (Figure ) was designed for small families as well as new families (younger married) This is an important as the population of young people aged between 20 and 29 years is 82 per cent in Sana a and this rate is very high This alternative can also be used for singles people and in some conditions also can be used for families with a baby The total area for alternative A is square meters (2) Alternative B (two-bedroom unit) Alternative B (Figure 2) was designed for medium size families with size three to five people Alternative B will be for the Figure Alternative A (one-bedroom unit) Bedroom 2 Men sitting room 3 Living area Kitchen 2 3

8 following families: families with a child (son or daughter) and families with two children, either two sons or two daughters This alternative can also be used in some conditions for families with two children (son and daughter) under 2 years old The total area for alternative B is square meters (3) Alternative C (three-bedroom unit) Alternative C (Figure 3) was designed for medium to large size families with size four to seven people Alternative C will be for the following families: families with two children (one son and one daughter) and families with two children, either two sons or two daughters This alternative also can be used in some conditions for families with two children (son and daughter) under 2 years old The total area for alternative C is 5-20 square meters The plan in Figure 3 shows that alternative C includes two sections (Figures and 5) Affordable housing design 9 Housing cost of the alternatives Housing design, planning and technology are the key instruments in making housing affordable Suitable designing is one strategy employed in bringing down the cost of housing There are two ways information on housing cost was collected They are: () The information on cost per square meter in the housing projects collected in the professionals questionnaire ranged between YR50,000 and YR55,000 The mean cost per square meter was then calculated as YR5,350 excluding land cost (2) The cost per square meter calculated by quantity pricing was YR6,000 From the professional point of view, this way of computing cost without land cost is Bedroom 2 Men s sitting room (Dewan) 3 Living area Kitchen 5 Reception Figure 2 Alternative B (two-bedroom unit) 3 2 Bedroom 2 Men s sitting room (Dewan) 3 Living area Kitchen 5 Reception 5 Figure 3 Alternative C (three-bedroom unit)

9 IJHMA, Model B: two bedrooms unit Model A: one bedroom unit 3 2 Bedroom 2 Men s sitting rooms (Dewan) 3 Living area Kitchen 5 Reception Figure Cultural criteria s considered in the alternatives design Model C: three bedrooms unit 5 Guest s (visitors) section Family section In some cases used by guest s more accurate To be more logical, the cost per square meter of housing projects in Sana a excluding land cost will be the mean of both costs as expressed below So the cost per square meter of low-cost housing projects in Sana a was computed as YR8,675 (USD ¼ YR200) 5 Housing affordability The reason behind housing assistance is to improve housing affordability for those receiving the assistance (AHURI, 200) Andrews (998) defined the term affordable housing as that costing no more than 30 percent of the household income This is the generally accepted definition of housing affordability She also described severe burdens for families, who were paying 50 per cent or more of household income as housing loans A household with family paying more than 30 per cent of his/her monthly incomes for housing is considered cost burdened and may have difficulty in affording necessities such as food, clothing, transportation and medical care Aribigbola (2008) and Rose (2002) summarized the affordable housing as that with cost less than 30 per cent of the monthly income of each household The monthly installment for the low-income group should be not more than 30 per cent of a household family income per month The affordability of three alternatives of low-cost housing for the low-income group in Yemen was considered The following formulae were used in our study: Monthly installment ¼ 30% of family income per month ðthe average of Yemeni employees salaryþ

10 3 2 2 Affordable housing design Model B: two bedrooms unit Model A: one bedroom unit 3 2 Bedroom 2 Men s sitting rooms (Dewan) 3 Living area Kitchen 5 Reception 5 Model C: three bedrooms unit Day activities section Night activities section Day-night activities section Figure 5 Functional distribution in the alternatives design Monthly installment ¼ 0:30 family income ðyr25; YR50; 000Þ So monthly installment that depends to family income can be: Monthly installment for group with income ðyr25; 000Þ ¼0:30 YR25; 000 ¼ YR7; 500 Monthly installment for group with income ðyr50; 000Þ ¼0:30 YR50; 000 ¼ YR5; 000 The total cost for the alternatives proposed A, B and C was computed using the following formulae: Alternative cost ¼ Alternative area cost per square meter The scope of this study is the low-income group with monthly income between YR[]25,000 and YR50,000 per household in Yemen Therefore, the following formulae were used to calculate the proposed monthly installments to make sure that the low-income family has the ability to afford new housing unit: Monthly installment ¼ ðalternativ s housing cost 2 down payment 25% 2 months * 25 years

11 IJHMA, 9 As discussed earlier, the households in both study areas could afford any housing unitthrough monthly installments between YR7,500 and YR5,000 The three alternatives A, B and C for the low-cost housing in Sana a have provided house pricings within range of the monthly incomes of the low-income group in Sana a, which is YR25,000-YR50,000 and this is within the scope of our study This result shows that the group of low-income families in our project areas has the ability to afford the three alternatives A, B and C of low-cost housing Therefore, the designs and their corresponding costs of the three alternatives of low-cost housing are acceptable Finally, the most striking news to emerge is that the three alternatives A, B and C were taken to be representative samples for the low-cost housing in Sana a Table I presents the specifications of the three alternatives that were affordable to the low-income group Alternative A was affordable to the group with income more than YR26,30; alternative B to the group with income more than YR36,70; and alternative C to the group with income more than YR6,62 This means that the group with income more than YR6,62 could afford alternatives A, B and C, while that with income more than YR36,70 could afford alternatives A and B However, the group with income more than YR26,30 could only afford alternative A This result in our study indicates that the low-income group could only afford new low-rise apartments in Sana a if the construction has used concrete frame structure and built the internal and external walls with concrete blocks as proposed in the building designs 5 Recommendations and policies implementations The housing shortage problem in Yemen was mentioned by many previous studies Our study has confirmed the problem and identified the factors behind it This problem will continue to fraught the low-income group in Yemen for years to come It is apparent that the absence of housing policies and strategies in the country has caused the ever-increasing housing demand and the proliferation of informal housing areas in Sana a and other cities in Yemen This has complicated the problem further, as the current solutions have been ineffective due to limited resources To effectively combat this phenomenon, it will require more resources and efforts, without which the problem will grow more complex and the solutions will be compounded and would require a longer period to materialize Al-Ansi (2006) and Alaghbari et al (2009) It is recommended that the Yemen Government prepares a transparent housing policy for the low-income housing in Sana a, tapping on the successful experiences of some developing countries such as Malaysia This would be a major step in seriously addressing the housing problems in Yemen The results of our study with updated information of the low-income group requirements and suggestions of Yemeni professionals in the housing industry would certainly contribute towards formulating this all encompassing housing policy to be implemented in Yemen, incorporating the following sub-policies: () Look for sources of financial support dedicated to low-cost housing projects (2) Enhance the performance levels during implementation of these housing projects and activate governmental monitoring from time to time (3) Legislate laws to protect investors in the housing sector and guarantee laws to banks for loan recovery () Encourage private investments in the housing sector through the provision of facilities

12 Alternative (A) Alternative (B) Alternative (C) Unit contents One bedroom Two bedrooms Three bedrooms Men s sitting room Living area Men s sitting room attached with WC Men s sitting room attached with WC Kitchen Reception area Reception area Bathroom Living area Living area Balcony Kitchen Kitchen Bathroom Bathroom Balcony Balcony 2 For whom? Young married Family with: Family with: (family size) Elder families one child (son or one son and one daughter daughter) Family without children Two sons Two sons and one daughter Two daughters One son and two daughters Son and daughter younger than 2 Two sons and two daughters years 3 House style An apartment An apartment An apartment Flat Flat Double story house semidetached if the land is free from encumbrance Structure Concrete frame 5 Construction Traditional method method used For big projects IBS (panels or cast in situ) recommended 6 Materials Internal walls: concrete blocks cm External walls: concrete blocks cm Some stone for decoration 7 Total area (square meter) used Cost (YR) 3,63,875,380,750 5,597,625 9 Down 25 percent 25 percent 25 percent payment YR790,969,095,88,399,06 0 Monthly installment (YR) Family income (YR) 7,90 for 25 years 0,952 for 25 years 3,99 for 25 years 26,30 36,70 6,62 Affordable housing design 95 Table I Summary of affordable housing analysis for low-income in Yemen (5) Open bank loans for the purpose of housing protected by legislation to ensure the restoration of these loans from borrowers (6) Encourage and support researches and studies on low-income housing (7) Allocate public lands for low-income housing purposes and distribute them fairly (8) Provide local and cheap building materials for low-income housing

13 IJHMA, 96 (9) Construct around 300,000 housing units in Sana a and main cities to solve the shortage of low income housing in hand by the year 205 However, the following specifications should be adhered to: Housing units of various sizes to suit different family sizes as follows: Housing units of one bedroom þ Dewan area (65-70 square meter) Housing units of two bedrooms þ Dewan area (90-95 square meter) Housing units of three bedrooms þ Dewan area (5-20 square meter) Construct multi-storey housing units such as walk-up low rise apartments using the concrete structure and building the internal and external walls with concrete blocks These units should be distributed to low-income people under an installment scheme, especially those with monthly income from YR25,000 to YR50,000 and monthly installments should be less than 30 per cent of monthly income for a period of not less than 25 years The housing sector in the Ministry of Public Works, Roads and Bridges should legislate a comprehensive system covering all segments of society, financial supporting bodies, methods of implementation, quality of housing, prices, housing payment schemes and associated laws Note YR (Yemeni Rial): the currency of Republic of Yemen USD ¼ YR200 (in 2008) References AHURI (200), Measuring housing affordability, Australian Housing and Research Institute Research and Policy Bulletin, No 5, March Al-Ansi, NA (2006), Housing problem in developing countries: a comprehensive study of spontaneous housing in Sana a, Yemen, Master thesis, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia UKM, Bangi Al-Kahtani, IAM and Al-Darzi, SYK (2007), Old and modern construction materials in Yemen: the effect in building construction in Sana a, Journal of Social Sciences, Vol 3 No 3, pp 38-2 Al-Kurdi, F (2002a), Lifestyle and house form: the case of Aramco houses under home ownership in Dhahran, Unpublished Graduate study, King Faisal University, Al-Hassa Al-Kurdi, F (2002b), The Labour City in Dammam: An Analysis of Its House Forms Advanced Workshop ARAR 602, King Faisal University, Al-Hassa Alaghbari, WAM (200), Factors affecting construction costs in affordable housing for low-income group in Sana a, Yemen, Doctoral of Philosophy thesis, School of Graduate Studies, University Putra Malaysia, Serdang, Selangor Alaghbari, W, Mohd Kadir, MRA, Salim, A and Alsanoy, A (200), Scenario of using building systems: the significant factors causing choose system used in construction projects in Yemen, paper presented at The International Sciences Conference, -3 October, Sana a Yemen Alaghbari, W, Salim, A, Ali, AAA and Dola, K (2008), Factors influencing low-cost housing in Sana a Yemen, Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Built Environment

14 in Developing Countries 2008, University Science Malaysia, Penang, Malaysia, 3- December Alaghbari, W, Salim, A, Dola, K and Ali, AAA (2009), Housing shortage for low-income in Yemen: causes and suggestions, International Journal of Housing Markets and Analysis, Vol 2 No, pp Andrews, ON (998), Trends in the supply of affordable housing meeting America s housing needs (MAHN): a habitat follow-up project, available at: wwwnlihcorg/doc/ mahnsupplypdf (accessed 2 February 200) Aribigbola, A (2008), Housing policy formulation in developing countries: evidence of programme implementation from Akure, Ondo State, Nigeria, Journal of Human Ecology, Vol 23 No 2, pp 25-3 Baharoglu, D, Peltier, N and Buckley, R (2005), MENA REGION: (the macroeconomic and sectoral performance of housing supply policies in selected MENA countries: a comparative analysis) Algeria, Egypt, Iran, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Tunisia, and Yemen, available at: /Macroeconomic%20and%20Sectoral%20Performance%20of%20Housing% 20Supplypdf (accessed September 2007) Bordignon, BV (998), A systems design approach for sustainable affordable housing, Master thesis, Department of Civil Engineering, University of Toronto, Toronto Darweesh, L (2003), Dweller-initiated changes and transformations in built environment: the impact of building regulations, Unpublished MSc thesis, King Faisal University, Al-Hassa Djebarni, R and Al-Abed, A (998), Housing adequacy in Yemen: an investigation into physical quality, Property Management, Vol 6 No, pp 6-23 Friedman, A (2005), Homes Within Reach: A Guide to the Planning, Design, and Construction of Affordable Homes and Communities, Wiley, Hoboken, NJ Mohit, MA, Ibrahim, M and Rashid, YR (2009), Assessment of residential satisfaction in newly designed public low-cost housing in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Habitat International, No 2009, pp -0 Queensland Government (200), Affordable Housing Design Guidelines, Department of Housing, Queensland Government, Queensland, available at: wwwqchcasnau/portals/0/uploads/ Affordable%20Housing/aff_hsg_des_guidelinespdf (accessed February 200) Quigley, JM and Raphael, S (200), Is housing unaffordable? Why isn t it more affordable?, Journal of Economic Perspectives, Vol 8 No, pp 9-2, available at: berkeleyedu/pdf/qr_jep0_ingentapdf (accessed 2 June 2007) Rose, D (2002), What is affordable housing? Does it really exist? Where can i find it?, available at: wwwhousingallcom/stepup/whatosaffhsghtm (accessed 5 September 2009) Salama, AM (2006), A life style theories approach for affordable housing research in Saudi Arabia, Emirates Journal for Engineering Research, College of Environmental Design, Vol No, pp Sidawi, B (2008), Incorporating lifestyle in the design of affordable housing in Saudi Arabia kingdom, Emirates Journal for Engineering Research, Vol 3 No 2, pp Sinha, IB (978), A solution to the problem of low-income group housing in developing countries by use of prefabricated system: housing problems in developing countries, Proceedings of IAHS International Conference, Vol 2, University of Petroleum and Minerals, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, Wiley, New York, NY Sultan, B and Kajewski, S (2003), The behaviour of construction costs and affordability in developing countries: a Yemen case study, Proceedings of the Joint International Affordable housing design 97

15 IJHMA, 98 Symposium on Knowledge Construction of CIB Working Commissions W55, W65 and W07, Singapore, 22-2 October UN (996), Strategies to Implement Human Settlement Policies on Urban Renewal and Housing Modernization, Economic Commission for Europe, New York, NY Yamuane, T (967), Statistics: An Introductory Analysis, 2nd ed, Harper & Row, New York, NY About the authors Wa el Alaghbari obtained a BSc in Architectural Engineering in 995 He has worked as a Lecturer in the Architecture Department, Engineering Faculty, Sana a University, Republic of Yemen He obtained an MSc in Project Management in 2005 from University Putra Malaysia He got his PhD in Architecture Studies from Faculty of Design and Architecture, University Putra Malaysia Currently, he is a Lecturer in the Architecture Department, Engineering Faculty, Sana a University Wa el Alaghbari is the corresponding author and can be contacted at: wail 23@yahoocom Azizah Salim is a Lecturer in the Architecture Department, Faculty of Design and Architecture, University Putra Malaysia Kamariah Dola is a Senior Lecturer in the Landscape Department, Faculty of Design and Architecture, University Putra Malaysia Abang Abdullah Abang Ali is a Director of the Housing Research Center, Civil Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering, University Putra Malaysia To purchase reprints of this article please reprints@emeraldinsightcom Or visit our web site for further details: wwwemeraldinsightcom/reprints