Rent in times of Displacement: Draining people’s savings

“Fair rent” has long been a slogan for housing advocates in Lebanon and other contexts. This slogan has been accompanied by demands to regulate rents in line with the minimum wage, set caps on rent increases, and protect tenants from threats and evictions. However, in the context of the ongoing war, where thousands have been killed as a result of the continued Israeli aggression and more than 22% of Lebanon’s population has been displaced, it has become necessary to rethink this slogan tactically and radically, especially since a significant proportion of the displaced (about 28%) have resorted to renting as a way to find shelter. Rethinking the slogan at this stage may be based not only on abolishing commodification, but also, and more importantly, on abolishing rent altogether, so that the displaced, who have lost their homes, livelihoods, and jobs due to the war, are not forced to exhaust their remaining savings to pay rent, as it becomes the state’s onus to provide them with free shelter.
Through this article, we seek to emphasize the importance of this approach, starting from presenting the situation of the current rental market through a study we have conducted. In this study, we have analyzed a sample of residential units offered for rent in various Lebanese regions (383 units) starting Monday, September 23, 2024 – the day that witnessed a recent major escalation in the Israeli war on Lebanon – until October 14, and we show that rents are high and varied to the extent that some exceed rents in pre-war rental contracts, clearly draining the savings of the displaced.

Read the full Article in Arabic.