Housing aid stalled: 300 million dirhams were waiting for the right to sign
The minister calls it a technical problem: the decrees giving ministers the right to sign. Citizens waited for the notary, the notary for the aid, and the aid for the pen.
The news
Samir Belfkih, Minister of National Territorial Planning, Urban Planning, Housing and City Policy and government spokesperson, said on Thursday 5 November 2026, at the press briefing after the Government Council, that the delay in paying direct housing aid had been overcome. He attributed it mainly to technical difficulties, linked to the need to issue the decrees giving ministers the right to sign.
He announced the release of about 300 million dirhams, which he said settled most of the pending files. The reports we read give neither the length of the delay nor the number of files, and no date was offered for paying the remainder.
The explanation came in response to a question from the newspaper Al3omk about citizens' complaints that the aid had stopped, and whether it was suspended until the next budget year. The day before, on 4 November, MP Ayachi El Farfar of the Istiqlal group had put an oral question to the minister on the causes of delays in processing applications and paying sums due, which he described as serious and worrying. Istiqlal is part of the governing majority.
In Marrakech, beneficiaries whose files had received final approval asked for an official explanation and a payment date, according to the site Jamaa El Fna Press. The site 9 Avril reports that notaries had not received the sums, that families with loans are paying instalments and rent at the same time, and that the set deadline for paying the aid is 15 days after the notary files the documents.
The programme grants 100,000 dirhams for a home costing up to 300,000 dirhams, and 70,000 dirhams for a home costing between 300,000 and 700,000 dirhams, with a target of about 300,000 beneficiaries by the end of 2028. Belfkih said an assessment of the first phase is under way, without announcing any change to the conditions or amounts.
Problem solved, money released. The balwara: a 15-day programme held up by a paper saying who may sign, and nobody saying for how long.
The commentary
Satirical opinion from the editorsThe chain is clear: the citizen waits for the notary, the notary waits for the aid, the aid waits for the ministry, and the ministry waits for the decree granting the right to sign. The deadline is 15 days, but the pen had no licence.
To be fair, the cause was stated publicly, the money went out and the assessment has begun. Simple arithmetic: 300 million comes to roughly 3,000 to 4,300 files. Only one piece of information is missing: how long it all lasted. That's the very number being counted by the family paying the loan and the rent at once.