A significant number of state-owned lands in Lebanon are registered in the land registry under the names of several ministries, departments, or directorates concerned with housing. As per the 2015’s data retrieved from the Ministry of Finance records, there are 512 properties registered under the name of the National Authority for Reconstruction; 59 properties registered under the name of the Ministry of Housing and Cooperatives; 50 properties registered under the name of Public Housing; 28 properties registered under the name of the Housing Authority. None of these institutions exist today, all having been subsumed into the Public Corporation for Housing (PCH). In terms of geographic distribution, the records show that there are no state-owned lands designated for housing in the governorates of Beirut, Akkar, and Baalbek-El Hermel, while the majority of these lands are concentrated in the South governorate (52%), followed by Mount Lebanon governorate (28%). At the district level, the highest percentage of these lands is concentrated in Jezzine with 183 properties, followed by Sidon with 154 properties, and then Chouf with 100 properties. Some of these properties have a historical association with land expropriation aimed at resettling the displaced and those affected by the 1956 flood of the Abu Ali River in the North, as well as the earthquake that struck villages in Chouf district and the South. The remainder of these properties were acquired as part of a public housing program initiated by the Ministry of Social Affairs during the 1960s and 1970s to address housing needs in various regions of Lebanon.
