Parliamentary question from CHP's Öztunç regarding increasing installments in TOKİ residences

CHP Kahramanmaraş Deputy Ali Öztunç submitted a parliamentary question to the Presidency of the Turkish Grand National Assembly, requesting an answer from the Minister of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change, Murat Kurum, regarding the installment and principal increase system based on the civil servant salary coefficient applied in TOKİ residences.

In the justification of the parliamentary question, Öztunç reminded that TOKİ was established for the purpose of low- and middle-income citizens to own housing under affordable conditions, and stated that the increases due to the civil servant salary coefficient caused grievance.

Öztunç made the following evaluations in the justification of the parliamentary question:

"Although citizens pay their installments regularly due to the current practice, both the installment amounts and the remaining principal debt are constantly increasing in parallel with the increases in civil servant salaries. This situation causes the total debt not to decrease despite the payments made, and in some cases even to exceed the initial debt.

"IT IS EXPRESSED THAT IT WILL COST 26 MILLION LIRAS"

For example, it is stated that within the scope of the 250 Thousand Social Housing Project launched in 2022, a 3+1 house with a sales price of approximately 4 million lira will cost the beneficiary approximately 26 million lira at the end of the payment period if the current increase system continues. This situation, which emerged in a social housing project that aims to enable low-income citizens to own housing, causes serious discussions that the project is incompatible with the understanding of the social state.

Öztunç emphasized that it is important to re-evaluate the installment increase system and switch to a reasonable, predictable payment model, and asked the following questions to Minister Murat Kurum:

"How many beneficiaries are there across Türkiye within the scope of the 250 Thousand Social Housing Project launched in 2022? For what reason is the installment increase system based on the civil servant salary coefficient implemented in this project? What is the reason why the remaining principal debts of beneficiaries who make regular payments increase despite the payments made? Has your Ministry conducted a study on the number of beneficiaries experiencing payment difficulties due to the current system? If so, how many beneficiaries have payment difficulties? How many beneficiaries have terminated their contracts or had to give up their homes due to increasing installments? What is your ministry's assessment of the criticism that the current practice undermines the aim of low-income citizens to own a home?

Is there any work carried out by your ministry to limit installment increases to a certain upper limit, stabilize the remaining debt, or switch to a more predictable and fair indexing system? Are there any plans to make interest-free restructuring, maturity extension or debt update in order to eliminate the grievances of the beneficiaries? In social housing projects, is a new financing model being worked on that will prevent the total repayment amount of the houses from exceeding the sales price? "What are the concrete measures your ministry plans to take to ensure that low-income citizens do not lose their homes and do not have to give up their rights?"