UAE | Housing & Property
No place to call home...
Majority of low and middle-income groups hunting for affordable housing in Dubai.
- By Alice Johnson, Staff Reporter
- Published: 23:55 October 23, 2008
- Image Credit: Gulf News Archive
- Landlords are given warnings to change the situation. If they do not, Dubai Electricity and Water Authority have been instructed to cut off utilities, forcing the tenants to leave.
Dubai: Rising rents across the Emirate are forcing families to live in multi-occupancy villas. Tens of properties have been converted illegally by landlords, who separate rooms and install plumbing to accommodate more people than is stipulated in building regulations.
Today, the Building Inspection Department at Dubai Municipality has been cracking down on villas that break building regulations. Landlords are given warnings to change the situation. If they do not, Dubai Electricity and Water Authority have been instructed to cut off utilities, forcing the tenants to leave.
Campaigns are currently ongoing across Dubai, with many families being evicted in Rashidiya, Karama/Mankhool and Satwa.
Residents say they cannot find affordable accommodation.
One family in the Rashidiya area were forced to live in the dark, hot conditions while they looked for new accommodation.
The head of the family, who would not reveal his name, said: "I am looking for a new room at the moment, but I'm planning to send my wife and children back to India - it's too expensive. I can't prepare food with no power, so the children are not eating properly. My daughter is only 3 years old and she has lost 5kg. My son is ten and he has stopped going to school. The teacher has been asking him where his homework is, but he can't do it in the dark. We don't sleep because it's too hot and we can't eat properly, so he can't go to school."
Families living in villas that have had their utilities cut have been using facilities at friends and neighbours' houses, nearby hotels and using water from mosques.
While the landlords have been served notice to evict tenants of villas such as these, they themselves are not facing fines or prosecution.
During Ramadan, an Abu Hail villa had its utilities switched off, as reported in Gulf News.
Resident S.F.A., who did not wish to be named, said: "My whole family was keeping the fast but, with the electricity disconnected, I am now the only one fasting; it's unbearably hot for my family to be fasting."
Electricity to the building was terminated as part of a larger Dubai Municipality effort to crack down on the illegal partitioning of villas (that accommodate more people than building regulations allow).
It was a similar story for a Karama villa in July.
The landlord had converted three garages at the villa into accommodation for more than four families. The utilities were cut on July 23, and families said they were having to stay at friends and neighbours houses until August 1 (when new accommodation became available).
Resident T.S. said: "You can't breathe inside, it's so hot. People come home to pack after work and then sleep at friends' houses. One lady is staying with a friend in Satwa, but they have also been given the notice."
She continued that she purchased some candles, but was unable to use them for light, as they had melted in the summer heat
"It's too hot to even pack your things, you can't breathe inside. I'm sweating a lot and have become dizzy. None of us can sleep, and you can't go to the office the next day, it's very difficult. I have taken two days off work to find somewhere else.
"I have been looking in Bur Dubai - I got the newspaper and I have been ringing all the numbers, then we had to personally go and see all of them. They want Dh5,000 as a deposit and then a cheque for Dh20,000. You can't get Dh20,000 in a day. If you apply for a loan, you also can't get this in a day.
"I was supposed to go on leave, but I had to cancel. I already had bought my ticket," she said.
Other residents said that they were paying Dh3,500 a month for the illegally separated rooms, and that it was difficult to find affordable accommodation in Dubai at such short notice.
Several families of well-wishers from the Indian community in Dubai contacted Gulf News, after reading of the situation of these families.
John, who did not want to give his family name, visited a Karama villa and offered to buy water and food for the families living in the dark.
"The government needs to do something about it. These people contribute to the UAE economy, and they are suffering, not the landlord. Now, it is difficult to know what is legal and what is not (in terms of housing). What is happening to the landlord? Nothing. It is the children that are suffering. We can't take the heat for 15 minutes, how can they stand it all night? Now, it is a better option for them to return to their home countries. Maybe they have family there," he said.
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