Last week, the City Council approved rental housing regulations for households that have a regular income but can’t afford to buy real estate. The Ulaanbaatar Housing Program is working to provide citizens with housing through five channels, one of which is supporting the provision of rental properties for targeted groups. The General Plan for Ulaanbaatar Development and Ulaanbaatar Housing Program have set a goal to provide rental housing for 7,000 households by 2018. The Ulaanbaatar Housing Corporation will review and approve the rental housing regulations submitted by the City Council. The council said that the number of apartment renters is growing, but the number of rental properties available is insufficient, as there are only poor quality and expensive apartments currently on the market. Statistics show that there are around 30,800 households that live in rental properties, 36 percent of which are not connected to central sewer lines, 34 percent are without access to the central water supply, and 33 percent are not connected to the central heating system. Around 205,431 households (58 percent of Ulaanbaatar’s residents) live in ger district areas, and 56 percent of families live with two or more households residing on one property. Around 10,000 couples are married each year, but studies show that the majority of them are living with other family members. The City Council believes that there is a great demand for improving the rental housing market in Mongolia. They underlined that the rental housing regulations were approved to improve the legal environment for rental housing. They emphasized that the newly adopted regulations are intended to provide housing to families that have a regular income but are unable to generate savings for the 30 percent down payment required for purchasing real estate. The council says these families will be now provided with the opportunity to save for a down payment while living in affordable rental housing. Officials underlined that the regulations will also help provide residents with access to housing connected to the city’s engineering infrastructure based on their financial resources, and resolve temporary housing issues for households involved in ger area redevelopment projects. The City Council agreed to determine which organization will set rental housing prices, and to discuss criteria for citizens hoping to be involved in the city’s rental housing program.