Evaluating Housing Policy in the United Arab Emirates: The Interplay of Effectiveness, Affordability, Accessibility, and Sustainability

This study examines how perceived housing policy effectiveness, affordability, accessibility, and sustainability are statistically associated among residents of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), with particular attention to whether affordability and accessibility exhibit indirect associations between perceived policy effectiveness and other perceived housing outcomes. A cross-sectional online survey was conducted using purposive sampling among UAE residents. Of the 289 collected responses, 64 were excluded because of incomplete submissions, response times below three minutes, or failed attention checks, yielding a valid sample of 225 respondents and an effective response rate of 77.85%. Data were collected using five-point Likert-scale measures and analyzed using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and covariance-based structural equation modeling (CB-SEM). The results indicate that perceived housing policy effectiveness is positively associated with perceived affordability and sustainability, whereas its direct association with perceived accessibility is not statistically significant. The analysis further indicates a statistically significant indirect association between perceived policy effectiveness and accessibility through affordability, consistent with full mediation of this relationship. Affordability also partially mediates the association between perceived policy effectiveness and sustainability. These findings suggest that, from residents’ perspectives, affordability is statistically connected to accessibility and sustainability within the perceived housing policy framework examined in the UAE. The study contributes a perception-based analytical framework for examining the interrelationships among housing policy effectiveness, affordability, accessibility, and sustainability, and provides an empirical basis for further research and evidence-informed evaluation of housing strategies in the UAE.