When Southern Municipalities step into the State’s absence: A reading in Rent- control measures across southern villages of return

Between June 18 and 27, 2026, fifteen municipalities and two municipal unions across Nabatieh and South Lebanon issued public statements capping rents to protect families returning to villages emptied by displacement during the Israeli war, in a similar fashion to a 2023 circular issued by the Governorate of Nabatiye. This piece examines how local authorities strive, with what limited tools they have at their disposal, to regulate an out-of-control rental market characterized by flagrant exploitation due to an urgent on-the-ground need and a real, pressing housing crisis -worsened by the war and decades of accumulation before it, amidst a total absence of a state- level response, and national housing policy for the areas of return.