Introduction: Nowadays, the housing sector, especially in developing countries, faces fundamental policy shortcomings that have led to spatial imbalances in housing accessibility, mismatches in supply and demand, excessive increases in housing and rent prices, and the formation of informal settlements. In this regard, it is essential that housing policy approaches rethink existing structures with a reformist perspective. Therefore, given the inefficiency of existing housing policies and the necessity of formulating reform policies, especially in developing countries, the present study was written with the aim of formulating a reform approach to housing policymaking in Ardabil city based on the effectiveness of policies in responding to housing supply and demand.
Materials and Methods: The research method in the present study is quantitative with an applied purpose and descriptive-analytical nature. In this study, first, through documentary studies, the criteria of the reform approach to housing development policymaking were extracted and then the required data were collected through questioning with experts. The DEMATEL technique was also used in the analysis of the data. It is worth mentioning that DEMATEL is one of the multi-attribute decision-making methods and is used to identify the pattern of causal relationships between the variables under study. Also, the statistical population of the study includes managers, officials and academic elites in Ardabil city, which the sample size was determined to be 200 people using the Cohen formula.
Results and Discussion: The research findings show that the criteria of governance and transparency are the most influential and the criteria of social and justice-oriented approach are the most influential. The criteria of governance and transparency and the social and justice-oriented approach have the most interaction with other criteria under study. Also, the criteria of land policy reform and urban planning, reform of the financial and credit system of the housing sector, and governance and transparency are causal variables, and the criteria of construction quality reform and productivity promotion and social and justice-oriented approach are dependent variables. On the other hand, the greatest influence is related to the realization of governance and transparency and in a positive way. Finally, it can be said that in the reform approach to housing policymaking in Ardabil, rethinking the institutional (realization of governance and transparency), economic (reform of the financial and credit system of the housing sector) and legal (reform of land policies and urban planning) structures are of fundamental importance as causal variables. The examination of the sub-criteria also indicates that the integration of housing policymaking institutions has the greatest influence, while the production of social and supportive housing has the greatest dependence. Furthermore, the criterion of social and supportive housing production has shown the highest level of interaction with the other criteria.
Conclusion: The results show that housing policymaking in Ardabil city has faced a series of challenges in recent years, including an imbalance between supply and demand, ineffective support tools, a shortage of suitable land for development, weak institutional coordination, and a lack of accurate data-based planning. Therefore, a rethinking of housing policies in Ardabil city is necessary, emphasizing an integrated, long-term approach that relies on targeted interventions. This rethinking should include structural changes, in other words, the use of a reform approach in policymaking in order to increase the success of housing programs. Based on the analyses conducted, the proposed reform approach for the city of Ardabil it requires a transition to integrated governance; an approach that aligns physical development with sustainability and social justice standards based on housing supply and demand, by linking innovative financing, smart support for vulnerable groups, and data-driven monitoring, to prevent future crises.