Turkish Studies - Economics, Finance, Politics , vol.16, no.2, pp.987-1016, 2021 (Peer-Reviewed Journal)
The aim of this study is to evaluate the housing sector and the legal regulations for the sector in a historical process. This assessment was also supported by important events and economic data for the sector. The first prominent feature of the sector in Turkey is that households prefer ownership over residential property. The first prominent feature of the sector in Turkey is that households prefer ownership on residential property. Most of the houses are built by private entrepreneurs and their costs are quite high compared to individual incomes. These fundamental features have become unsustainable in many periods due to population growth and urbanization rate and have created areas of intervention for public authority. Between 1923-50, the high urbanization rate of the capital, the low-income level of the households and the effects of the first slums (gecekondu) were observed. The solutions produced for the capital Ankara in these years were used as a template for the whole country in the following years. Between 1950 and 1980, the rate of urbanization increased in Turkey and the need for housing became widespread. In the first years of this period, entrepreneurship was shaped by the Condominium Law, and in the planned development years, by building cooperatives and yapsatçılık (build and sell business). After 1980, the increasing need for housing in the environment of economic and political crises led to the Mass Housing Fund that aims to support mass housing and to the Mass Housing Administration (TOKİ) to administer it. In the 1990s, the Administration became the target of rent-seeking activities. This resulted in the reduction of their powers. However, after two major earthquakes in 1999, a public authority was needed for the renewal of cities. This led to the reauthorization of TOKİ. As a result, this study tries to interpret the point reached today, while presenting a brief perspective on the whole of this historical process.