The National Assembly's Women and Family Affairs Committee on Thursday approved amendments to the women housing law.

A major amendment provides that the Kuwait Credit Bank offers housing loans to Kuwaiti divorced women or widows with Kuwaiti, or non-Kuwaiti kids who do not enjoy housing care, head of the committee MP Safaa Al-Hashim told reporters.

She added that the loans would also cover "two unmarried sisters" and a Kuwaiti married woman. An elderly Kuwaiti man and a woman will be dealt with as equal basis.

Al-Hashim noted that low-rent houses are offered to Kuwaiti women with children from non-Kuwaitis. A Kuwaiti woman married to a non-Kuwaiti, but has children, is to receive such loans, after five years in marriage.

Meanwhile, the committee has agreed to transfer all the terms of reference from the Kuwait Credit Bank to the Public Authority for Housing Welfare (PAHW), Al-Hashim said, noting that the government had approved all amendments. The bank will only act as a financier.

Kuwaiti women married to non-Kuwaitis are 20,000, and granting them housing loans will cost KD 1.55 million (USD 5.127 billion).

News Source: KUNA