Foreign presence drives up rents

Afghans can't afford housing

 

Borzou Daragahi, THE WASHINGTON TIMES

440 words

13 May 2002

The Washington Times

A15

English

(Copyright 2002)

 

In the days of the Taliban regime, the people here endured hunger, religious

oppression and political violence. But at least this dusty, smog-choked capital

offered one good thing they can no longer count on: cheap rent.

Since the U.S.-led campaign ousted the Taliban, nonprofit groups, journalists

and international aid officials coming in have pushed up housing costs beyond

anything that ordinary Afghans can afford.

"Get out of Kabul," Ashraf Ghaum, an Afghan official, bluntly told a group of

foreign journalists and NGO (nongovernmental organization) officials gathered

for a conference recently. "You're driving up the rents."

Rents in chic neighborhoods have risen the highest - perhaps fiftyfold,

residents and real-estate brokers say.

An Arab NGO recently signed a $4,800-per-month lease for a six- bedroom villa

that went for $300 a month during the Taliban era, said Ghodratollah Yadegar, a

real-estate broker who gleefully cited numerous examples of houses he had

recently rented out at exorbitant markups.

The British Embassy recently rented a 10-bedroom house for $10,000 a month. It

went for $400 during Taliban rule. In the safe, decent neighborhoods of

Shahr-e-now or Vazir Akbar Khan you won't find a two- or three-bedroom place for

less than $1,500.

"The Taliban were terrible for the real-estate business," said Mr. Yadegar.

"There were no foreigners here who wanted to rent."

Even in poor neighborhoods with no electricity or running water, rents have

increased, said Hamed Safi, a geologist and authority on Kabul's infrastructure,

from about $50 to $250 a month.

"Some of the people are coming here and returning to Pakistan because of the

cheap rents there," Mr. Safi said.

In the Pakistani border city of Peshawar, he said, you can rent a place with

electricity and running water for about $110 a month.

Salaries in Kabul are measly. Some local doctors make no more than $100 a month.

 

"Rents here are too high for Afghan wages," said Golmakai Shah, a former

Washington and New York resident who returned to Afghanistan recently to run the

Kabul theater. "I can't afford the rents here. I'm staying with a friend."

Many Kabul residents, unaccustomed to the whims of the free market, have

demanded government intervention.

"Right now rents seem to be determined entirely by property dealers and house

owners," said an unsigned letter in the May 2 issue of Kabul Weekly. "I request

from the official bodies to set affordable house prices so that the poor can

live without difficulties."