Taimur Khan & Tayyab Mohammadzai

Besides Afghan refugees, a large number of locals are also finding themselves unable to find accommodations due to spiraling rents in the provincial capital.

Saima, a resident of Charsadda currently living in Hayatabad said that she was trying to relocate to a bigger house as the current one was smaller for her household. She said that after the arrival of a large number of Afghans, they were finding it difficult to find a house.

“The rents for houses are also going through the roof,” she said. Ms Saima said that the situation of rented properties has improved after the departure of a large number of Afghans to their country some years back. However, she added that these days it was really difficult to find a good house on a reasonable rent.

She said that Afghan refugees were forced to rent properties on higher margin. “Many of the Afghan families can afford expensive properties as in most cases one of their members was living abroad,” she said.

Ms Saima said that this pushed up rents for the locals who cannot afford to pay higher rents.

On other hand, Amirulalh, a Peshawar High Court lawyer, hailing from Malakand, said that he has managed to rent a house after great difficulty. He said that in the first place it was difficult to find a good house and when you find one, it is next to impossible to meet the demand for rent.

Besides, to rent a house, one has to do tedious documentation which includes departments including police, local bodies and eyewitnesses.’

He said that in the past, Afghan refugees were kept in refugee camps; however, now they have been allowed to live in cities, which have pushed up the rents. “The property which was available for Rs 5000 in rent is now costing Rs 15000,’ Mr Amir said.

Asif Ayub, a landlord from Hayatbad, said that one of the main reasons for the higher rents was the shortage of properties. He said that the rural to urban migration and other facilities in cities like education, many people prefer to stay in cities,” he said.

Mr Ayub said that this has caused a housing shortage and higher rents.

However, he said that it was not correct to say that rents were higher for Afghans only. “Rents are on the upper side for both the Afghans as well as locals,” he said.