Easy on the pocket housing shrinking in Rawalpindi

Low-income Pindiites are finding it more and more difficult to find a reasonably priced house to live. Easy on the pocket accommodation is shrinking in Rawalpindi.

“In the last few years period, the numbers of affordable housing units, that is to say, for the households with incomes at or below Rs.10, 000 has dropped. This drop, coupled with overall rent increases, has meant that low-income working families, along with many kids and elderly, are forced to pay disproportionate amounts of their monthly incomes on rent alone, with too little left for food and other necessities,” says Karamat Ali, a private sector employee.

“Those in transition from joblessness to work are particularly vulnerable, because housing costs consume so much of their small pay. In the last two years, rents across the city jumped at twice the rate of inflation,” says Shaukat Hussain, who found job after a long respite.

“Landlords have raised their rents at a more rapid rate than that which prevailed in the earlier years of the decade. While the stock of affordable housing has been decreasing, moreover, the number of tenants with incomes below 30 percent of the middle has grown. At present, one in four tenants are in this position, and they are in painful competition for the little housing that is available within their price range,” says Shazia Hussain, a working widow.

“At least 40 percent of tenants cannot pay the rent for a two-bedroom house. Minimum-wage earners are particularly hard hit by the combination of escalating rents and the increasing scarcity of units within their income range. Nowhere in the city is the minimum wage sufficient to allow for the rental of a two-bedroom house at the fair market rent,” says Hasan Murteza, a factory worker.

“The rent of one-storey three-marla, four-marla and five-marla house is fixed. One-bedroom house is priced highly. The rent is set at the whim of property dealers, so they fleece the tenants to ensure their commission,” says Baksheesh Hussain, an IT guy.

“I get a small salary and have to work part-time in order to pay for my two-bedroom house. For the poor, rise in rents has exacerbated the search for a reasonable place to live,” says Hussain Taqi, a father of two kids.

“Most of the housing is made available to working people with somewhat higher incomes. There are fewer housing options for the poorest. Ways to shorten the affordability gap are not hard to find.  The government needs to further raise the minimum wage, which would help to put more workers in a better position to rent at prices they cannot now afford,” says Afaq Ali, a political worker.

“Pindiites are being fleeced by landlords, who often demand increased rent with threats of eviction. I have shifted my dwelling three times in a year. My house belongings have got damaged in the process,” says Wajahat Ali, a private school teacher.

“My landlord never spends the money he gets from me as rent on the house I live in. He hasn’t had any work done on it apart from the poor paint when I rented the house five years ago,” says Farhat Abbas, who runs a small grocery shop.

“Our problem is being met with almost total silence from the city fathers. How many of them have rented their family home all their lives from a private landlord?  How many of them would prefer to live in the cold damp house we live in,” adds Farhat.