Women and Housing 4 | Single Women as Tenants: Eviction Threats and Instability

Introduction

In the span of six weeks, I met with a number of single women living independently or sharing a home with other women: those housed outside the traditional overbearing binary of the parental or marital home. They lived in a range of different neighborhoods in the Greater Cairo region, where they shared their experiences of breaking this mold while risking eviction and its consequences.[1]

Almost all the women I interviewed were exposed to different threats of eviction during their multiple tenancies in different homes during the last seven years. Most of them reported being subjected to eviction without notice at least once in their rental experience.

In this essay, I analyze the narratives of eviction, as well as the constant threat of eviction, as a multifaceted condition that includes exposure to different forms of housing precarity and rental uncertainty.

Eviction and Rehousing Cycles

Eviction incidents are more than a threat to secure tenancy,[2] as its consequences on women’s violent realities make it difficult for them to resettle themselves in safer housing.

“We arranged to renew the lease with the landlord, and were not informed of any problem. On the day we were supposed to renew and sign the contract, the landlord decided to raise the rent by 50%. This was way out of our budget, so we asked for two more days to collect our stuff and leave the apartment. He said ‘no! If you want to stay two days, you have to pay LE 500 per day…’, which was around 25% of our monthly rent, ‘…otherwise, you move all your belongings and leave immediately.’ That was during Ramadan, and it was 2 a.m. We as flatmates divided ourselves into two teams, two of us were collecting our luggage, and the other two were searching for a new apartment for rent. Actually, at 6 a.m. we were living in another place!”

• Sarah,[3] a resident of Tora, Cairo. 

The fact that the new place they moved to was a small studio apartment – which was the only affordable option available to them within a few hours to escape spending the night on the street, – pushed them into another episode of overcrowded housing conditions, and difficulties of getting out quickly from this housing situation because of the high upfront deposit that was paid.

 “The landlord changed the door locks while we were at work, and called to say: ‘come now to gather up your clothes, I changed the lock!’ He even refused to return the two months’ deposit so that we could find a replacement apartment in a tight timeframe.”

• Mona, a resident of Saqr Quraish, Cairo

Mona elaborated that the landlord’s illegal action to end the tenancy without notice or refund the deposit, as a result of one of the neighbors telling him about one of her flatmates being dropped off by a man. Mona and her flatmates could not secure money for a deposit and brokerage fees for another similarly sized apartment and were forced to downgrade their housing conditions due to the lack of adequate housing options that were affordable to them.

Continuous Liminal Condition

Leaving family homes in the provinces and moving to the capital to work and be housed independently could subject women to find themselves stuck in temporary phases of housing, a liminal condition.[4]  As a result of living under constant threats of eviction, this liminal housing condition may last for years. Sarah was rehoused nine times in her six years in Cairo and does not see herself as settling in a ‘home’ until this moment…

“I never considered any of the houses I moved to as a ‘home’, most of my belongings remain in the bags. Every time I moved to a new apartment, I waited for the moment I feel I am stable here to unpack all my bags, but it never happened till now, I always feel threatened to be forced to leave after a few weeks of moving. I am struggling not to comply with my family’s pressures to return back to their home until I get married, as they see I am not stably housed all these years.”

Mona was rehoused four times since moving from her hometown three years ago. She described her housing status as rahaleh (nomadic)…

“I usually spend my day at work, including the commuting time, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. then I see whoever is available from my friends to spend the remaining 4-5 hours with them in the streets. In this way, I return to the apartment extremely exhausted and sleepy, my day is over, and then repeat the cycle every day. In such a technique [she laughed], I avoid exposure to problems with landlords or neighbors and reduce the possibilities of being evicted. Honestly, I never treated the apartments I moved into as a home, I even usually bring my clothes week by week from my parents’ home.”

The continuous transitory state of housing here becomes apparent when treating the home as passing through the place. This, as a result, trapped women tenants in a rental environment of uncertainty and insecurity that limits their negotiation space, and burdens their ability to secure affordable and adequate homes that offer safety and independence.

Homemaking and Instability

In the sample group, women housed independently were deeply aware of the significance of developing and maintaining some kind of stable and safe place for themselves. However, eviction threats hinder their engagement in these practices of homemaking.[5] Dina, after various rehousing cycles, settled her life in her current apartment, which she pays roughly 50% of her monthly income on its rent, and decided to make it a home. She started furnishing it step by step in installments, created wall decorations, and painted its old furniture…

“I was trying to create a safe and familiar personal space, like my room in my hometown.”

Although Dina’s deal with her landlord in the middle-class Dokki district in Giza includes mixed-gender visits,  her neighbors usually keep an eye on her door to ensure that no male visitors enter or exit it after sundown.

“One of the neighbors once shouted: ‘this place is not a cabaret,’ and threatened to kick me out of my home. Since then, I have had anxieties related to male friends’ visits. I no longer invite my friends, although this is my right and my agreement from the beginning. I invest time, energy, and money in making this apartment a home; I have furniture and electronic equipment, and this makes it difficult to be kicked out and forced to find another apartment overnight. Also, as a pet owner, it gets harder to find an apartment to rent.”

As Dina’s narrative highlights, concerns about legal enforcement proceedings against insecure tenancy or against receiving eviction threats are frustrating to women’s attempts to establish an appropriation and utilization of their own places, their homes.

Acknowledgments

Written by: Reem Cherif

Reviewed by: Yahia Shawkat

Main image: Nouran El Marsafy