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"Tirana, unaffordable for those with low and middle incomes, is being 'expelled' from the city"

2026-05-18 20:17:38Biznes SHKRUAR NGA REDAKSIA VOX
Tirana

Interview with Doris Andoni, Independent Consultant / Expert on Housing Issues

The unsustainable development of the residential sector, concentrated in urban centers and oriented towards short-term profit, has brought about deep social polarization, especially in the capital, but now also in coastal areas.

Doris Andoni, a very good expert on housing policies with a long career in this sector and today an independent consultant for international institutions, emphasizes that numerous constructions are leading to the displacement of the middle class and the poor, expelling them from the most developed areas and creating an urban space excluded from those who make the city function every day.

Ms. Andoni adds that this development has detrimental impacts on the quality of life and increases social division, with a housing system that is becoming increasingly unaffordable. She emphasizes that housing policy must include a better social mix, where assistance for those who cannot afford the market must go beyond mere social assistance.

Furthermore, she notes that tourism and investments focused on short-term rentals are adding to the pressure on citizens, making it even more difficult for those on low incomes to find a sustainable place to live.

According to her, to solve these problems, the state must use legal instruments to support social housing and urban planning policy, ensuring sustainable and more equitable development for all.

Essentially, the discussion raises a broader question: are Albanian cities losing their function as living spaces, turning into financial assets? And what role should the state play to restore balance in an increasingly concentrated market?

What impresses you today about the way the housing market in the country is functioning?

Housing is not simply an economic issue — it is the mirror of society, the face of the economic and social system we live in. The way urban space is divided, who lives where and under what conditions, tells us more about a society than any other statistic.

And what we see in Albania today is worrying. The development of the residential sector is deeply unbalanced — unplanned, concentrated in the center and within the Second Ring Road, oriented exclusively towards immediate profit.

Investments are made spontaneously, without urban vision, swallowing up green and recreational spaces that are vital for the quality of life, overloading infrastructure, traffic and every public service. And above all, creating a housing system that is completely unaffordable for the poor and middle classes.

But this unbalanced development is not only a consequence of social polarization — it is also its cause. When the city is built only for those who have, and not for those who work, polarization deepens. A vicious circle is formed: wealth is concentrated, urban space is commercialized, the middle classes are displaced, and the city loses its character as a shared space.

It is an exclusionary development for those who work honestly and depend on a monthly salary — and this, ultimately, is a matter of social justice.

You have been following the housing issue for many years. What has changed from one decade to the next? Do you notice a deepening of the social gap, where the center belongs only to the rich?

The constructions that are being carried out in the center of Tirana are eliminating not only the low-income classes, but also the middle class. These classes are being expelled from the city, and this is one of the greatest damages being done to urban life, creating a concentration of only one specific category.

At the moment, this may not be obvious, but it will become clear when construction is completed and occupied, or when they are not occupied, because there is a high possibility that a large portion will remain unsold or return to Airbnb, with a purely seasonal character.

This significantly harms the quality of life in the city – and is one of the issues that is widely discussed today in all professional circles: tall buildings and bright facades do not make a city; the city is made by the people who inhabit and live it.

This is where the concept of the right to the city comes in – “the right to the city” – an idea formulated by the French philosopher and sociologist Henri Lefebvre in the 1960s and today widely accepted in international urban planning and social policy.

It is not simply about the physical right to live in the city, but about the right of every citizen, regardless of income, to benefit from the opportunities, services, and spaces that urban life offers.

The city is the collective product of everyone's work and contribution: from the construction worker to the teacher, from the nurse to the bus driver. Therefore, its fruits should be accessible to everyone, not just those who can afford luxury apartments.

When the city is transformed into a commodity, when its spaces are sold according to market laws without any social correctives, the right to the city is systematically violated.

This is precisely why what we have included in the housing law is necessary: ??the provision that 3% of the construction area be donated to the Municipality for social housing. It is usually imagined that these apartments will be occupied by the poorest people and that they cannot coexist with the buyers of other units.

But this is precisely the way to achieve a better social mix and to raise the level of those without opportunities, always keeping these apartments owned by the municipality and not selling them, because selling them makes them subject to other problems.

So, the city must necessarily develop for all strata.

Every local administrator must have a very clear understanding of the social structure of his city: the stratification according to social, economic and health characteristics, as provided for in the housing law. He must know how many families there are and what opportunities they have, and at the moment of granting the building permit, the municipalities themselves must be much more aware of this reality.

But this has started to become difficult, because permits are no longer issued by municipalities, but at the central level, and this, I think, is one of the great damages caused, despite the fact that the corruption problem served as an excuse to change competencies.

In an attempt to correct that problem, we have severed the municipality's direct connection with urban development, while it is precisely the municipality that has the closest connection to the community, has more data, and bears greater responsibility towards it, because it is elected directly by that community.

Tourism is having an impact in two ways: foreigners are buying as second homes or to relocate here, and Albanians are buying as an investment for short-term rentals. How does this affect the burden on citizens?

It often happens that buildings receive building permits as apartments, but in the end they do not function as such, because some of them are rented out for short periods. However, they are counted as apartments by INSTAT. When we study the situation from a statistical point of view and ask if there are enough apartments on the market, we calculate the number of apartments per 1,000 inhabitants and with those figures we can conclude that we are doing well.

According to the 2023 Census, Albania falls below the EU average: the European Union has an average of 517 dwellings per 1,000 inhabitants, while Albania has 470 – an indicator that suggests that despite the large volume of construction, there is still room for expansion (although the figures are dynamic and since 2023, while the volume of construction has increased, the population has decreased).

But the biggest problem is the distortion of the distribution graph: how much weight is given to those who own more than two or three apartments. When a large number of apartments are in the hands of a small group and are used as an investment and not by those who really need housing, the situation of families without access to the housing market worsens significantly.

The phenomenon has several layers: it is related to the lack of fiscal policies that would discourage the accumulation of housing as a financial asset; it is related to the lack of an accurate register of the real function of housing; and it is also related to the granting of permits, since the permit is granted for housing, but the object ultimately does not serve as such.

However, statistically it is counted as a dwelling and for a policymaker who is not focused on housing, the figures may seem okay, without the need for new policies. Meanwhile, we know well that about 33% of the housing stock according to INSTAT is empty, because it is owned by immigrants, or serves as a second and third home, or for seasonal use. This is especially felt in tourist areas.

I have often encountered it during my work: citizens who sought social housing to rent from the municipality, because during the winter it was easy to find, but with the arrival of summer, the owners would kick them out.

The issue of housing must be seen in all its social dimensions. It is not simply an economic issue: if investments are being made in the residential sector and revenues are being generated from construction, then a portion of them should be dedicated to those who do not have access to the market.

Are these cities losing their "soul" as they are rapidly expanding and displacing indigenous residents?

Certainly yes. The genius loci – the spirit of the place – is not created by the buildings, but by the people who inhabit them and the communities that are the traditional inhabitants of the areas. When you go to a traditional neighborhood of Tirana, you see people who have preserved and protected their area, residents who form a community and interact with each other.

Of course, we can no longer claim these kinds of interactions in today's context of urban conglomeration, due to internal migration, but that does not mean that we should not value and protect it where it still exists and support it to create it where it does not exist.

Do you think this situation is one of the reasons why part of the middle class chooses to emigrate — also due to the quality of life and the inability to own a home?

Quality of life is measured by many interconnected elements: housing conditions, services provided, opportunities. According to research by a non-profit organization around 2016, when the great wave of immigration to Germany began, among the reasons for immigration was housing: the inability to buy a home. But not only buying has become unaffordable, but also renting.

The problem of prices and rents is much more complex and is not a simple effect of supply and demand.

The role of informal money in financing the residential sector is a serious hypothesis that has long been circulating in professional and academic circles, and the lack of public data to confirm or refute it does not weaken it, but rather strengthens the concern. A market where the origin of capital remains unclear is an undiagnosable and unreformable market.

Which groups are suffering the most from this situation?

I find this whole situation very depressing, especially for young people, because it is not an environment that encourages them to start families and look to the future with optimism. Housing is definitely one of the factors, but it becomes part of a whole system that works against them: precarious employment, low wages, lack of prospects.

Affordability is measured by the wage-to-house price ratio, and the data shows that this ratio is completely unattainable. And it shouldn’t be that way; young people are precisely those who need it and are at the peak of their productive potential. Their departure is not just a personal tragedy; it is a great collective loss.

Today, young people do not have sufficient income, so it is necessary for municipalities to take the housing issue seriously. I do not see any real movement in this direction, except for lists for facilitated loans, which serve the market more than they solve the social problem.

In fact, with current prices and the maximum credit limit, you can't even cover half of the value of the apartment and are forced to move to the far suburbs. And what worries me is that today's politicians don't want to admit it openly: those with low incomes are being pushed further and further away from the center, away from the basic conditions and services that should be guaranteed to everyone as a right.

This departure also creates a bottleneck in the daily life of the city, as they are necessary workers, but transportation and access are becoming increasingly difficult?

There is a lot of talk today about the "15-minute city" – an urban model that has received great international attention and that presents a completely different vision than the one we are building today.

The concept, developed by Franco-Colombian urban planner and academic Carlos Moreno, among others, and adopted as official policy by cities such as Paris and Melbourne, is simple but powerful: every resident should have everything they need for daily life: work, school, healthcare, market, recreational spaces within 15 minutes of their home, whether on foot or by public transport.

The goal is to reduce car dependence, increase quality of life, strengthen local communities, and reduce energy consumption and pollution.

Norman Foster, one of the most influential architects in the world, was at one of the Sessions I chaired at the Housing and Land Management Committee in Geneva and, together with other researchers, drafted an action plan for the future city based on this concept.

It's the exact opposite of what's happening here: where service workers are forced to live further and further away from work, where public infrastructure is not keeping pace with construction, and where the city is turning into an overcrowded labyrinth for those with few opportunities.

What can the state do today to narrow this social gap?

The state has all the legal instruments, it just has to implement them. The law on social housing provides for: the construction of social housing, the various forms of providing it, and the financing mechanisms.

The example of Shkoza social housing may have its advantages and problems, but it is a starting point and the problems should be seen as lessons, not as reasons to abandon the approach. The real solution is social mixing: planning inclusive areas where different categories coexist, where social housing is not a ghetto, but an organic part of the city.

The income generated by construction should be partially redistributed to those who cannot access the market. But this should be closely linked to urban planning: you cannot develop an area without simultaneously developing its infrastructure – sewerage, electricity grids, roads – and without anticipating population growth.

For Airbnbs, a clear boundary should be set so that when a building permit is granted in a limited and controlled number, they are registered as businesses, not as residences, and any change of function is declared and licensed.

But above all, the approach must change. Housing cannot be treated as a technical or statistical issue. It is a matter of social justice and the model of society we want to build. The city does not belong only to those who can afford it – it belongs to all those who build it, serve it and make it function every day.

This is the right to the city and its protection should be at the center of every housing policy and urban planning./ Monitor


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