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I may have offered my wise words/general uninvited rantings about property and housing situations in the city last week, but mark my words, if you’re a citizen of Dubai at the moment, there is little else on everyone’s lips. If you’re reading from afar, you may not have heard about the new rules, which state that unless you’re a family you can no longer share accommodation in one of Dubai’s many villas.
Dubai Municipality appear to be acting rather like heartless swines about the whole thing. All manner of people, from every colour, culture and occupation have written to the press about how they’ll soon be forced to live on the streets, once they’re ushered out of their homes. But does the Dubai Municipality care? Does it HECK! Are they offering temporary accommodation while Dubai’s lovely people find their feet in light of their sudden sticky situation? Are they HECK!
Some people in Karama and parts of Umm Seqeim are currently surviving like squatters, having had their electricity cut off as a warning. Others have just given up, thrown in the towel and gone home – back to countries they formerly abandoned for the dream of a better life. Dubai was once a welcoming embrace, a friendly face, a head-start in the career-race. Now it just looks like a monster. Sounds harsh? Well harsh it is, people. To many who’ve struggled and battled for their right to stay, in spite of spiraling costs and five-star domination, it’s a total slap in the face.
It makes me very sad in fact. I am fortunate enough, like many others, to live in a nice home, and write a column every week about the “troubles” Dubai sometimes brings me, like a bad manicure or an unruly kitten who refuses to love us, even though we’ve given it a refuge from the sandy streets (it’s hiding behind the fridge as I type). But the people who are laying the foundations; the builders, the bakers, the pedicure makers are being forced out, thanks to rising rental costs and silly new rules. As one of the more fortunate expats of the UAE, it saddens me greatly to think of how this city might treat me, did I not have a salary and lifestyle that contributed greatly to its bigger, gold-encrusted dream.
Some people are now having to move to Sharjah. Now, if you don’t live here and you’re reading as a prospective visitor or expat, living in Sharjah and working in Dubai is to many what living in Slough and working in London might equate to. Or, living in Hoboken and commuting to Manhattan. Actually maybe not, Hoboken’s quite cool these days, but I digress. Sharjah is not an ideal place for people who have for years been living in Satwa and paying 3,000 AED a month for a room. Satwa is a hub. Sharjah? Well… “hole” would be a better word. Not that that’s even the issue. Inner-city dwellers have spent years building a life here. Why should they have to leave thanks to nothing more than greed?
Yes, greed is another word on everyone’s lips. The municipality have informed us that evacuating people sharing villas is essential, because they are straining our public resources and causing health and safety issues. No one can argue with that I suppose. However, expats living in villas, in one room per person, paying all the bills and living in perfect safety have also been given their marching orders. So we’re wondering, all of us, how unsafe or unhealthy is the current state really, and how much do they just want us all out and into all those unoccupied high-rise apartment buildings, which cost between 6,000 and 7,000 AED a month per room? How much do they care about creating ‘family-only’ villas, as opposed to pushing more single, high-earners into forking out big bucks on all these wonderful new developments that haven’t got us as enthusiastic as they expected?
I’m not exactly sure what all these means for Dubai, in the long run. If it’s an aim to make us invest and stay longer, it’s a funny way of going about it. Sometimes I reckon it’s all too much to think about, let alone begin a debate over. Maybe I should just concentrate on getting the kitten out from behind the fridge and leave the Municipality to sort things out. One way or the other.
Posted: 28 September 2008
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