eviction

Report

Municipalities at War: When Local Authorities Decide the Legitimacy of Housing

This report documents 68 municipal circulars and measures issued during Lebanon’s March – April 2026 displacement crisis, examining how local authorities expanded their role from emergency response to surveillance, control, and restrictions on housing and mobility. It also analyzes post-ceasefire municipal initiatives aimed at curbing housing exploitation and supporting return. The report calls for a rights-based approach that clearly defines municipal powers within a comprehensive national housing policy.

Article Field Watch

The Demolition of Houses in Al-Hara Al-Jadida and the Displacement of their Residents:

When the Authorities Solve a Conflict of Their Own Making 

On July 9, 2026, security forces forcibly evicted residents and demolished ten homes in Al-Hara Al-Jadida neighborhood, under the guise of resolving an “illegal occupation.” This Fieldwatch reveals that the issue is a direct result of failed state housing policies and 1970s land consolidation and parcelation project, which re-divided land among owners on paper while ignoring actual residents on the ground.

Decision Commentary

انهيارات المباني في طرابلس تسابق أصحاب القرار:

يتناول هذا التعليق قراءة نقدية لخطة الطوارئ الحكومية والمقرّرات الحكومية المرتبطة التي أُقرّت عقب سلسلة انهيارات المباني الكارثية في طرابلس مطلع عام 2026، متتبعاً مسار تطبيق بنودها ميدانياً عبر الجهات المعنية، وخصوصاً السلطة المحلية، بناءً على مقابلة أجريت مع رئيس بلدية طرابلس.

Policy Watch

 How the Deadline  Suspension Law Affects Old Rent Tenants’ Rights

The new law suspending legal deadlines, adopted in 15/07/2026 by the parliament,  provides old rent tenants an additional window until july 31, 2026 to preserve their rights,  by  applying for the rent support …

Policy Watch

Old rent Verdicts continued:

A single verdict restores fund beneficiaries’ rights among fragmented readings of a broken law

Since the nine-year extension expired in February 2026, Lebanese courts have been issuing verdicts in old rent cases at an accelerating pace, while navigating a law whose core components, the tenant support fund and committees, remain unfunded and inoperative. The Housing Monitor examines five recent verdicts that follow a troubling shared logic which examines procedural compliance in a non-functioning system to decide who qualifies for legal protection. Against this backdrop, one court stood apart, suspending court proceedings without demanding the impossible.

Alerts Periodic Report

Report on Old Rent  Tenants Eviction From Their Historic Neighborhoods:

Mapping Eviction Mechanisms  and Proposing Protection Alternatives.

أزمة الإيجارات القديمة في لبنان ليست صراعًا بين مستأجرين ومالكين، بل علاقة استغلالية أتت نتيجة عقود من غياب السياسات السكنية. مع انقضاء السنوات ال9 التمديدية التي طرحها القانون 2/2017، دون تفعيل أي من البرامج الداعمة التي نصّ عليها ، تحوّل القانون فعلياً إلى أداة عدّ عكسي نحو الإخلاء. يستند تقريرنا إلى 130 حالة موثّقة بين آذار 2022 وآذار 2026، ويعيد طرح القضية كمساءلة لسياسات الدولة لا كنزاع بين طرفين.

Policy Watch

Qaaqaiyat al-Sanawbar once again: Israel is erasing southern villages, while our state destroys their agriculture.

Since the start of the 2024 war, the zionist entity has targeted Qaaqaiyat al-Sanawbar for 175 days, in addition to threats of evacuation, forcing the remaining residents to flee.
While the town is being destroyed, the authorities have reclassified agricultural areas within it as an industrial zone through Decree No. 2304, issued on January 22, 2026.
This exacerbates the destruction and extraction perpetrated by the occupation.

Statement

Regarding yesterday’s BIEL incident and the “encroachment” speech on the waterfront

English 3-liner
On May 18, a large number of security forces arrived at BIEL and began relocating displaced families, who had settled there due to the lack of safe alternatives, to a limited area within the same property.
The municipality is estimated to provide between 200 and 300 tents, while approximately 600 families currently reside in the area, with no clarity regarding the fate of those families who will not receive a tent. Meanwhile, many of the displaced Syrians have fled the area, fearing the actions of the security forces.
This event was accompanied by escalating rhetoric claiming that the displaced refuse to move to shelters, and therefore are “squatting” in downtown Beirut, hindering tourism.
In this statement, we clarify some points concerning the rights of displaced communities in safe displacement shelters that they choose and adapt, and the need for the state’s support that prioritizes the safety, security and wellbeing of the displaced communities.

Legal Memo

What Are My Rights During and After Evictions from  Buildings at Risk of Collapse?

In the wake of Tripoli’s building collapse crisis, this legal memo serves to inform residents of the rights guaranteed to them under Lebanese and international law at every stage of eviction and beyond, from prior notice and dignified relocation to guaranteed return, and calls on them to demand these protections both on an individual and collective level.

Petition

Joint Letter to Stakeholders Addressing the Displacement Crisis:

Housing Is a Right That Cannot Be Postponed

Hundreds of displaced families continue to seek shelter in public spaces, under difficult conditions, while other families are forced to negotiate or open vacant doors on their own to avoid sleeping in the …

Project

A Comprehensive Law for the Right to Housing in Lebanon

In 2023, Public Works Studio launched a project for a comprehensive draft law for the right to housing in Lebanon. The project is a radical approach to addressing the housing crisis and its accumulations over the past decades, and is proposed as a tool capable of securing the diverse needs of a variety of social groups, especially the elderly, persons with disability, students, workers, families, and others. The project is rooted in a participatory methodology, and throughout its phases engaged in consultations with residents from marginalized communities, civil society institutions, and experts, whose ownership of the proposal is a pillar for the project’s success.

Policy Watch

Shelter Centers in Tripoli: A Response Deepening class inequalities in the city

Until the morning of 17 April, 20 shelters were opened in Tripoli. Their uneven distribution concentrated pressure in already vulnerable neighbourhoods, particularly those with collapsed or at-risk buildings, while wealthier areas were largely excluded despite available vacant housing stock, reflecting how response practices reproduce existing spatial and class-based inequalities in the city.