BAGHDAD — The Iraqi parliament this month is discussing a bill to find solutions to its expanding slum areas. However, several obstacles could hinder this bill from being passed into law amid an ongoing social and political crisis.
Iraq has more than 5,000 slum areas, containing more than half a million housing units, inhabited by approximately 3.5 million people. Most of these slum areas were established with the emergence of the current political regime in 2003.