Recent reports confirm what the UAE residents know all too painfully well — there is a severe shortage of affordable family housing, particularly in Dubai and Abu Dhabi. Yes, there is no shortage of new prestige developments coming on-stream, new luxury villas being offered by developers, new communities opening up with wonderful amenities. But the reality is that these are out of the reach of the pockets of many residents who choose to make their home and earn a living in the emirates.
So what constitutes affordable housing? For a family with children, a two-bedroom apartment needs to come in under Dh80,000 annually. Scour any listing service, any real estate agent, or in the classified sections of any newspaper, and there is precious little rental stock that falls into this parameter — the most important.
Added to that are increased school fees and it becomes a juggling game for families to live here.
Yes, authorities have tried to introduce a slab rental price scheme, but this is ineffective, inaccurate and inconsistent.
Yes, developers may say their properties are affordable — but not for families where Dh80,000 annually is a price impediment.
The solution? Developers must be mandated to build affordable rental properties, municipalities must ensure these properties remain so through monitoring and regulation. And the former annual rent cap needs to be re-introduced as a matter of urgency. Before affordable housing becomes a problem.
