So far there is no written or formally acknowledged housing policy in the Maldives, and housing is by and large governed by traditional practices of land allocation and individual construction. However, there have been a number of projects and interventions over the years and the government is increasingly required to intervene on grounds of equity and social justice as well as economic efficiency and environmental sustainability. As a result, in 2005, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development (MHUD) was formed, charged, inter alia, with the formulation and implementation of a National Housing Policy.
Traditionally, housing in the Maldives was a private affair, left to the households to construct on inherited land or land that had been allotted for the purpose. Given the spatial economy of the Maldives, this was usually by subdividing or sharing an existing parcel, or sometimes, through reclamation. The increasing scarcity of land, high costs of construction and reclamation, the need to accommodate many more uses, and to respond to the need and desire of households to locate in areas that are better serviced, secure and have better economic prospects requires a more considered, transparent and planned system of intervention in the form of a comprehensive policy on housing that is supported by all tiers of government, the private sector and the community.