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Housing crisis in Iraq

BAGHDAD, Dec. 29 (UPI) -- A housing crisis has gripped Iraq, with more than 1.6 million people displaced within the country since the start of the war in 2003.

About 50,000 people per month have moved within the country since February, The New York Times reported Friday.

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Istabraq al-Shouk, the country's deputy housing minister, estimated the country is short about 2 million homes, with many displaced families forced to stay in low-quality encampments and shanty towns, the Times said.

Shouk said the Housing Ministry is working on 8,500 homes across the country for government employees and families of people killed by militants and the government hopes to have about 350,000 houses built by foreign contractors over the next few years. However, he said that plan is contingent on whether safe working conditions can be secured for the workers.

In addition to the violence, some of the blame for the crisis has been assigned to landlords who hiked up rent prices when economic controls were removed after Saddam Hussein was deposed, the Times said.

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