The Ministry of Housing has announced that individuals who have lived in Malé for a total of 15 years will be eligible to apply for the government's ongoing "Family Housing" program, even if they have been registered as a resident of Malé for less than one year.

Informing the public that the application forms have been amended to allow those who have been registered in Malé for less than a year to apply, the Ministry stated that these individuals can apply if they meet the requirements for the category of people who have resided continuously in Malé for 15 years.

The Ministry stated that when such individuals submit their applications, they must provide documentation proving continuous residence in Malé for 15 years, as well as a document showing the date they became a registered resident of Malé.

This decision comes alongside an amendment to the regulations of the "Binveriya" special scheme, which was gazetted last week. According to that amendment, a third category has now been added to the scheme.

The announcement states that under Category 3 of these regulations, applications can be submitted by those who previously applied as single applicants under the former government's Binveriya scheme and wish to exchange their land for a flat, or all individuals who submitted a joint application and now wish to relinquish that land to apply separately for land and flats.

Forms for this category can be submitted from the 10th of this month until the end of the month.

The general requirement set this time for seeking housing is continuous residence in the Malé area for 15 years. However, for persons with disabilities, the requirement was previously changed to allow them to apply for flats if they have resided continuously in Malé for five years.

The deadline for applying for land and flats issued under various categories in this government’s first housing project has now been extended until the 31st of this month.

Under the "Family Housing" program opened on January 18th, the government has decided to issue 7,900 flats and a total of 15,000 plots of land, each measuring 1,250 square feet. The land plots will be issued from Rasmalé.

The government has allocated the flats as follows: 4,000 flats for registered residents of Malé, 1,500 flats for those living in Malé who are not registered residents, and 2,400 flats designated for special categories.