homelessness

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.

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.

Law Commentary

The Suspension of Deadlines in the Absence of Housing Protection: A Legislative Loophole in Times of War

The suspension of deadlines in times of war is a key tool for protecting rights. However, excluding lease agreements from it undermines this protection and exposes tenants to the risk of eviction and homelessness. In the context of widespread displacement and declining ability to pay, the right to housing cannot be separated from any serious legislative response to the crisis. Including leases within the scope of suspended deadlines is not a technical detail, but an urgent necessity to ensure a minimum level of social protection under exceptional circumstances.

Law Commentary

Two Complementary Draft Laws to Strengthen the Right to Housing

On Wednesday, February 25, 2026, MP Halima Al-Qaqour, along with a number of MPs, submitted two draft laws to the Speaker of Parliament. The first, an amendment to the old residential lease law, …

Report

Why is there a need for a comprehensive housing right law and what are its objectives?

Lebanon’s housing crisis stems from decades of speculation, weak policies, and state withdrawal from housing responsibilities. This policy brief presents the case for a holistic and inclusive right to housing law, as the drafting phase of the proposal begins in collaboration with Legal Agenda. Rooted in principles of social justice and spatial equity, the proposed legislation outlines measures like the state’s role in regulating housing and providing social housing, protection against eviction and homelessness, and addressing precarities of residents of informal areas.

Yearly Report

The Impact of the Israeli War on Lebanon: The Housing Crisis Worsens and Enters a New Phase

The Housing Monitor Annual Report | January 2024-January 2025

This 2024 Housing Monitor annual report examines the impact of war and political convergences on Lebanon’s housing crisis, highlighting mass displacement, rising rents, the exclusion of non-Lebanese residents, and forced evictions.

Field Watch

Incitement Before the Crime: Syrians Displaced and Homes Burned in Al-Aaqbiya

Syrian refugees in the Tariq al-Maslakh neighborhood of Al-Aaqbiyeh are facing escalating threats and attacks, leading to the forced displacement of dozens of families. Risks continue to rise amid growing incitement and official inaction.

Field Watch

Tripoli’s Municipality Demands Media Publicity in Exchange of Protecting Residents Lives

In Tripoli’s Qobbeh neighborhood, a dangerously deteriorating residential building housing 21 families faces the risk of collapse. Despite urgent warnings, the municipality has failed to intervene, stating that action will only be taken if the case becomes a matter of public concern and. gains public and media attention.

Narrative

Under the Bombs: who supervises the work of NGOs working with the refugees?

Amid airstrikes in southern Lebanon, Walid and his family fled Nabatieh and entered a cycle of displacement. His story sheds light on systemic failures in addressing refugee needs by both the government and refugee aid organizations in time of war.

Dossier

The Right to the city and to housing during wars

It is not possible to imagine a war that would displace one fifth of the population, destroying the suburb of Beirut as well as the country’s southern and eastern region, bombing Lebanon’s entire …