As Dubai cracks down on crowded jerry-rigged apartments, migrant workers have nowhere else to go
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) – Lights are shaking, hanging the holes of the gates and walls on the walls, revealing the pipes in the apartment building in Dubai, a Egyptian immigrant worker, a better known emirate with him, flashy skyscrapers and lofts.
The two -bedroom rental unit is carved to host nine men, and what he calls a home is a cabinet enough for a bed.
However, the government has now ordered the 44 -year -old seller from this congested area, which cost 270 dollars per month. He’s one of the low -wage foreign workers who have suffered a widespread pressure by the authorities in Dubai on illegal lacking.
This includes rooms covered with bunk beds with bunk beds that do not offer privacy but are as cheap as a few dollars, and divided apartments such as plywood boards, plasterboard and plastic shower curtains in a temporary dormitory for 10 or 20 people.
After a high -storey fire in June, Dubai officials launched the campaign on concerns represented by divided apartments. Big fire risk. Some of the evacuation tried to stay on the streets where begging was illegal. Others are afraid that the inspectors can be unclear when or where they can emerge.
“Now we don’t know what to do,” he said, Hesham said, until he evacuated him. Like the others living in the cheapest and most crowded areas of Dubai, only the first name is used for the fear of entering the plus signs of the authorities who apply the illegal ban on illegal housing.
“We don’t have any other options,” he said.
Dubai Municipality, which supervises the city state, rejected the request for an EP interview. Authorized said that the authorities have been conducting inspections throughout the Emirate to prevent fire and security hazards – “will provide the highest public security standards” and will lead to “increasing quality of life için for tenants. He did not address where those who could not buy legal housing would live in a city state Synonymous with luxury yet Unions Unions And the minimum wage does not guarantee.
Dubai Boom increases rents
Dubai has seen an explosion since my pande, which did not show signs of stopping. It is expected that the population of 3.9 million will grow to 5.8 million by 2040, because more people are moved from abroad to commercial center.
Most of Dubai’s real estate market appeals to rich foreign professionals living there in the long run. This leaves a few suitable options for the majority of workers-immigrants in low-paid contracts, usually only a few hundred dollars a month. The property company Knight Frank said that about one fifth of the houses in Dubai are more than $ 1 million as of last year. Developers are competing to build a higher level of houses.
The continuation of this growth meant increasing rents on the board. According to the online rental company Colife, short -term rents cost 18% more by the end of this year compared to 2024. Most immigrant workers who the AP spoke to, said they earned only $ 300 to 550 dollars per month.
In low -income areas, a parted apartment area said that it usually rented $ 220 to 270 dollars per month and costs half of a single bunk bed in an unidentified room. If both are shared, it can be less or more costly depending on the size and location. In any case, they are much cheaper than renting a single bedroom with the average one -bedroom, which the real estate company says Engel & Völkers said that it runs about $ 1,400 per month.
The United Arab Emirates, like other Gulf Arab countries, rely on low -wage workers from Africa and Asia to build, clean, baby care and drive. Emirati citizens, who are more than 9 to 1 number by residents from foreign countries, are entitled to a number of government aids, including financial assistance for housing.
Large employers from construction companies and factories to hotels and holiday villages are paid less than 400 dollars per month they send to families abroad, and they need home workers by laws.
In addition, Steffen Hertog, who is an expert in the Gulf labor markets at the London School of Economics and Political Science, is employed informally. Pressing will increase housing costs and create too much stress for people who are already insecure people ”.
Hassan, a 24 -year -old security guard from Uganda, shares a bed in an apartment parted with a friend. So far, the government has not discovered it, but there is a reason to be nervous.
“They can tell you to leave without an option.”
Fires in Dubai continue to be a threat
Dubai targeted extreme crowded apartments in the past in the middle of high -rise fires Fuel with flammable siding material. The latest audit tour came after a fire in a 67 -storey tower in Dubai Marina neighborhood, where some apartments were divided.
According to a police report, more than 3,800 people had to evacuate from the building with 532 occupied apartments. This means that an average of seven, two and three bedrooms in each of these units live in the tower. Dozens of houses could not live.
There was no big injury over that fire. However, in 2023, another in Dubai’s history Deira district He killed at least 16 people and wounded nine more In a unit believed to be divided.
Ebony, a 28 -year -old worker from Ghana, had to leave a divided apartment after the authorities have recently learned. He lived in a narrow area with a roommate sleeping on a plywood roof bed built by Jerry.
“Sometimes to stand up,” he said, “Your head will hit the plywood.”
Currently, in a new apartment, a single room holding 14 people – and sometimes more than 20 people come and share their beds. With his income, about $ 400 per month, he said he had no other option and was afraid of being forced again.
“I don’t know what they want us to do. Maybe they don’t want the majority of people in Dubai here, Eb he said.
