Families living in villas need more time

The National

November 01. 2008

Families living in villas need more time


Families who have to vacate their homes on account of the one villa, one family rule are searching for affordable homes in Sharjah, Ajman and Umm al Quwain, and many are having difficulties finding one. Some are at the mercy of friends or relatives in temporary accommodation and others cannot get settled anywhere. There are many cases where families cannot send their children to school because they keep moving from place to place.



The families that were living in shared accommodation were paying from Dh3,000 to Dh4,000 per month, whereas the places they are staying in now require many times this rent. They are left with little choice but to borrow money. Indebtedness is becoming epidemic among expatriates in UAE, this is already leading to many other social problems.

Most of these people, who cannot afford the current rent, will send their families back home once school has finished for the summer. The most painful thing is, if they go to their home countries then their children will not get admitted into schools in between the academic year, so thousands of children will miss out on a full year’s education. Considering this situation, I earnestly appeal to the authorities to not enforce this rule until the end of the school year — it will help parents to sort out their children’s education.


K V Shamsudheen, Sharjah