B. Take immediate steps, inter alia by increasing budgetary allocations, to improve housing and living conditions in regions with ethnic minorities, including the provision of access to safe drinking water, adequate sanitation, electricity, transportation facilities, schools and health-care centres. Some of the Iranian Government’s practices, such as the relative lack of State investment in and attention to regions with high concentrations of ethnic minorities as well as a decrease in their regional budgets, continue to keep large numbers of Iranians in poverty. For example, the provincial budget of Sistan and Baluchestan decreased by 48% in fiscal year 1397 (2018-2019)18 compared to the previous year,19 while the provincial budget of Kurdistan decreased by 58%.20 In some regions with ethnic minorities, the rural population has lower access to basic facilities when compared to the national average. For example, out of the villages in the Sistan and Baluchestan province, 46% had access to electricity (55% as national average), 12% to drinking water (13% as national average), 2% to the Internet (8% as national average), 6% to the communication and telephone system (14% as national average), and 2% to the garbage collection system (11% as national average).21 In recent decades, the Iranian government has implemented various plans and programs to reduce the problems associated with housing access. In 2007, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad introduced the “Mehr housing plan” which aimed to create 2.2 billion new housing opportunities for low income and disadvantaged individuals. By the time President Hassan Rouhani came to power in 2013, this plan had not been widely implemented, with only around 700,000 housing units having been built. Moreover, the housing project was poorly planned since many houses were built outside of the main urban areas without access to transportation and basic necessities. In 2019, President Hassan Rouhani once again vowed to implement this housing initiative, yet it reported that no major progress has been made and low-income families in Iran still struggle to find affordable and adequate housing, in the midst of heavy sanctions imposed by the United States, which have devalued the Rial greatly.22 The Housing Foundation and the Imam Khomeini Relief Committee, the two bodies that are responsible for providing housing for low-income people and "for organizing and addressing the livelihoods of the poor and needy," signed a Memorandum of Understanding in 2016 for the construction of 20,000 units of "supportive housing" in rural areas. Yet there is little information available on whether this particular measure has alleviated Iran’s affordable housing crisis.23 18 https://shenasname.ir/laws/budjet/1397/4378-budjet97 https://shenasname.ir/laws/budjet/budjet98/4962-budjet98 20 https://shenasname.ir/laws/budjet/budjet98/4962-budjet98 21 Annual statistics of each provinces and annual statistics from Iran’s statistics center: <https://www.amar.org.ir/ > 22 https://www.aljazeera.com/ajimpact/iranians-struggle-afford-housing-prices-soar-190730150209889.html 23 http://www.jahannews.com/sdcez78nejh8pzi.b9bj.html and https://www.maskanco.ir/Components/News/View/NewsPDF.aspx?id=920&lcid=1033 19 4