Housing rights after the Beirut port explosion

Heightening violations

In addition to its tragic toll on human lives, the August 4, 2020 Beirut Port explosion intensified existing injustices and threats of permanent displacement to tenants. A survey by the Order of Engineers and Architects shows at least 1,120 buildings are in need of repair in the neighborhoods closest to the explosion, consisting largely of old or historical buildings densely inhabited by tenants. The official response to one of the biggest explosions in history came in October 2020, with a law meant to protect damaged and affected areas and support their reconstruction. However, the main motivation behind the law is to protect real estate interests, and only 30 percent of residents from these neighborhoods have indeed returned to their homes to date, according to CARE.

The law once again stresses the sanctity of individual property rights and the freedom of contract within the framework of free market economics, while ignoring the fundamental right of housing. Moreover, and in clear disregard for the concept of social justice, the law deprives residents from agency in the rapid restoration of their damaged buildings and fails to stipulate criteria and priorities for the recovery of the most affected neighborhoods. Although it provides for the extension of residential and non-residential lease contracts in damaged properties for a period of one year, preventing evictions in that period, most residents are unaware of their rights and there have been no official attempts to enforce the law. Additionally, the extension period is clearly insufficient amid the stifling economic, financial, and social crises plaguing the country, especially considering the length building restoration process and slow compensation.

TALLYING VIOLATIONS

As at end-June 2021, the Housing Monitor had recorded 127 eviction threats in the most damaged areas. Over half of those came from Rmeil, Mdawar, and Saifi, the cadastral sectors protected by the law; other threats came from Bachoura, Karm el Zaytoun, and Burj Hammoud, which were heavily affected, yet not included by the law. Based on these reports and fieldwork, housing rights violations are as follows:

The failure to provide alternative housing pending repairs. The state has left the most vulnerable groups exposed to homelessness and obliged to bear the burden of securing housing in a context lacking social policies that produce affordable and decent housing.

The failure to provide a clear plan for renovation. The rapid, temporary relocation necessitated by the blast risks turning into permanent displacement. According to a survey Public Works conducted on a sample residential neighborhood between Armenia Street and Al Khazinein Street in October 2020, 42 percent of apartments were permanently vacated, compared to 58 percent classified as temporarily vacated until the completion of repairs. Many tenants were evicted or permanently relocated. Some of them left permanently before the end of their written or oral contract, unable to bear the costs of renovation or psychological trauma, or to await hypothetical repairs. Many were unwilling to front repairs, given that the legal framework does not protect tenants but allows owners to increase rents or refuse to renew the lease. The Directorate of General Antiquities is the only official body undertaking renovations, but its selection of historical buildings is not based on an occupancy study that understands the socio-economic background of the residents.

The failure to remove obstacles to renovation permits. The bureaucratic pathways for obtaining such permits that are solely granted to the total shareholders of a property, have not been waved despite the catastrophic blast, and have consequently compromised the right of tenants and residing small property shareholders to renovate their homes or workplaces. Indeed, property owners have exploited the explosion to prevent renovations and evict tenants.

The failure to protect tenants from evictions despite article 5 of Law 194. Eviction threats included owners increasing rent upon completed repairs paid for by NGOs, attempting to confiscate allocated aid before it reaches tenants, refusing to repair or allow tenants to repair, and attempting to terminate leases or refusing to renew them.

The rising threat of abusive behavior and inadequate housing conditions. Eviction threats also involved physical violence and forced evictions that have been carried out, exacerbating the suffering of residents who survived the horrific blast. Moreover, many previous and new residents of affected neighborhoods reside in damaged houses with inadequate living conditions. These neighborhoods have become a main destination for the socioeconomically vulnerable for hosting aid-providing NGOs and offering social protection to the LGBTIQ community.

True justice entails the right to housing for all, the protection from permanent displacement, and an uncompromising zero evictions policy.