At the forefront of Moroccan politics and urban development, Fatima Ezzahra El Mansouri has established herself as a key figure in the nation’s institutional landscape. Born in Marrakech on January 3, 1976, she pursued legal studies at the University of Montpellier before launching a career specializing in commercial and real estate transactions.
El Mansouri’s political career is rooted in the Authenticity and Modernity Party (PAM). She first gained prominence as the elected mayor of Marrakech in June 2009, representing a new generation of local leaders focused on practical urban solutions. After a period outside of office in 2015, she returned to the mayoralty in 2021.
On October 7, 2021, she was appointed Minister of National Territorial Planning, Urbanism, Housing and City Policy. Further solidifying her leadership role, she joined the collective leadership of the PAM in February 2024, coordinating the party’s national direction. This dual background – in law and local governance – positions her to address critical issues related to living conditions, social cohesion, and public sector efficiency.
Taking office amidst growing challenges in Morocco’s housing and urban planning sectors, El Mansouri faces issues including limited access to affordable housing, land scarcity in major cities, rising rental costs, and rapid, often unplanned, urban expansion. A key focus has been broadening access to homeownership and decent rental options through more targeted public investment.
Reforms to housing assistance have prioritized more direct and transparent mechanisms to improve the social impact of public spending. Regarding urban planning, El Mansouri identified inconsistencies and a lack of flexibility in existing plans, outdated or incomplete urban documents in some cities, and an aging legal framework that no longer adequately addresses current urban dynamics.
To address these issues, she developed a roadmap centered on accelerating the production of next-generation urban planning documents, modernizing the legal framework, strengthening governance and territorial coordination, preserving the architectural identity of cities during urban rehabilitation projects, and improving the management of dilapidated housing through technical support and effective public action. In this effort, Parliament adopted Law No. 64.23 establishing Regional Urban Planning and Housing Agencies, aiming to decentralize public action. This legislation is part of a broader reform of public institutions.
The core principles of this reform are coherence, proximity, and efficiency, seeking to address criticisms of a historically top-down administrative approach and insufficient regional coordination among city stakeholders. A shift in approach is also underway in city policy, moving away from a purely administrative relocation strategy towards more sustainable and integrated solutions. The “Cities Without Slums” program, a flagship initiative, is now being re-evaluated through this new strategic lens.
As of December 2025, 382,176 families have benefited from the program, and 62 cities and urban centers have been declared free of slums. Beyond the numbers, the Minister has championed a paradigm shift: replacing a piecemeal approach with a structural vision focused on integrated resettlement, aiming to integrate households into viable urban areas equipped with infrastructure, services, and economic integration opportunities. A national data update for thousands of households was initiated as part of the 2024-2028 five-year program.
This statistical upgrade forms the foundation for more targeted public action, accompanied by monitoring mechanisms to prevent the re-emergence of substandard housing. El Mansouri believes that city policy should be part of a continuous strategy capable of anticipating demographic pressures, the attractiveness of major cities, and socio-economic changes. Her work seeks to articulate three complementary dimensions: housing, with improved access to accommodation; urban planning, through the modernization of planning documents and the streamlining of procedures; and city policy itself, focused on reducing territorial inequalities, securing dilapidated buildings, and strengthening social integration. This overall coherence guides the daily work of Fatima Ezzahra El Mansouri.
F.Z Ouriaghli
