ABSTRACT
Housing is one of the major problems of Turkey which is a rapidly growing country with a population of approximately 60 million. Due to the high rate of population growth and limited resources the country is faced with a severe housing shortage. Although the housing problem has always been existed its amplitude and pressure has showed a steady increase since the beginning of the Republic. During the first decade of the new Republic the limited resources were allocated to other sector and little was done for housing. The government was faced with the task of rebuilding the devastations of the war; in addition refugees coming from the former provinces had to be resettled in Anatolia, On the other hand establishment of the new capital necessitated the building of housing for government personnel. In conformity with the economic policies formulated in 1923, the private sector was encouraged to participate in the building of cities as well as in providing housing for the exchanged population. Despite all measures the anticipated results could not be obtained due to the lack of both capital and construction materials. Thus the first decade of the Republic is marked on the one hand by the formulation of necessary legislation for the long term and by stop-gap measures for the immediate
problem. In 1930’s, following the preparation of a development plan a revitalization of the construction industry was observed. Although the activities were merely devoted to industrial and administrative investments, the housing of low-income people was introduced to the terminology of construction sector which remained in project stage. At this period construction of multi-storey apartment complexes for high-income bureacrats, merchants and industrialists was being undertaken at an accelerated pace. Due to land speculation, increases in the cost of basic construction materials, real estate values increased sharply. The attempts to introduce corrective measures such as price control and investments for factories to produce basic materials were made towards the ends of the decade. Starting from this date, land has become the major determinant of housing problem. During the second half of 1930’s and beginning of 1940’s a set of legislations had been introduced, also projects of several large scale housing projects were realized. The first cooperative housing project, workers’ housing for the new established factories and dwellings for civil servants.
