For many families in Damascus, rent has become a determining factor in where they live, their lifestyle, and their ability to remain in the city. In the Dummar “New Damascus” project, properties are available for rent ranging from $1,000 to $1,300 per month, with prices varying according to size, location, and level of amenities.
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wide gap
In contrast, data from the Syrian Center for Policy Research reveals a wide gap between wages and the cost of living. The average monthly salary for a university graduate upon initial appointment in the public sector was approximately 1.13 million Syrian pounds, or about $100, compared to about 1.30 million pounds, or $115, for a private sector employee, while the average for a civil servant reached about 3.1 million pounds, or about $270.
The gap becomes even more apparent when comparing these wages to the cost of living. At the end of last June, the Qasioun Cost of Living Index estimated the minimum cost of living for a Syrian family of five at approximately 7.99 million Syrian pounds per month, or about $580, while the average cost of living reached about 12.78 million Syrian pounds, or approximately $930. The index relies on a food basket that represents about 60% of the total cost of living, while other expenses, including housing, transportation, education, health, and communications, represent about 40%.
With all these expenses rising, families find themselves forced to leave neighborhoods where they have lived for many years and look for cheaper housing on the outskirts of the capital, where rent is lower, and other costs that are less visible in the lease agreement are higher, such as transportation, energy, water, services, changing schools, and time and distance from the workplace.
Faced with this equation, the question for Damascene families is no longer: Where do you want to live? But rather: Where can you live? And how much does the family actually pay for housing after accounting for expenses? And is the cheapest house really less expensive?
Higher daily cost
Salima Umm Malik, 42, sums up one aspect of this paradox. An employee at the main post office on Saadallah Al-Jabri Street next to the historic Hijaz area, who has lived her life in the Damascus neighborhood of Al-Mazzeh, she is now forced to leave the area and move to one of the distant neighborhoods in the suburbs of the capital after the rent became beyond her means.
She tells “I consider finding a house far from the city center, and within my financial means, as the beginning of new compromises. We found a house that actually suits the budget, but that does not necessarily mean that it is comfortable or close to the workplace, school and services.”
The employee, who had lived her life in the Mezzeh neighborhood of Damascus, is now forced to leave the area and move to a distant neighborhood in the suburbs of the capital after the rent became beyond her means.
She adds: “The high cost of housing has made financial ability a decisive factor in determining where to live, and this means moving to remote areas that lack many services, as I had to give up some of the advantages that were available in the city center, starting with parks, playgrounds and clubs for children and adults, up to the level of municipal services and cleanliness, as children in some remote areas rely on the streets, squares or neighborhoods surrounding the house as a space to play, in light of the lack of facilities allocated to them, and the service problems related to the accumulation of garbage and the weakness of municipal services are increasing.”
She says: “The difference lies in the poor services that residents receive compared to the low cost of housing.”
She adds: “From my personal experience, I see that cheaper housing redistributes expenses rather than eliminating them, as was expected. Electricity, water, internet, roads, and cleaning become daily bills that require additional spending or costly alternative solutions. Power outages may extend for long hours, while water arrives in some areas only once a week, and some roads suffer from potholes and water accumulation during the winter, in addition to the existence of residential buildings offered for rent that have not been fully finished.”
Regarding the reasons for leaving the Mezzeh neighborhood, she says: “I was forced to leave the house after the rent was raised by about 50%, reaching about $1,000 per month, at a time when my salary does not exceed $200.” She adds that “living today inside Damascus is beyond the ability of 5 employees combined to pay the rent for one month, or we are forced into harsher choices, as when we live on the outskirts of cities we need additional costs that were not taken into account to secure unstable services,
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