We Reject the Forced Eviction Law – In Defense of the Right to Housing

Statement by the Revolutionary Socialists

Once again, the Egyptian regime demonstrates its complete alignment with real estate capital against the working-class population, through the passage of a disastrous law by its subordinate House of Representatives under the title “Amendments to the Old Rent Law,” which stipulates the termination of rental contracts seven years after the law comes into force.

This law is nothing but a legal cover for the mass, forced eviction of millions of families from homes they have lived in for decades. It will drive hundreds of thousands of tenants into homelessness or into the grip of the unregulated new rental market, which is unaffordable for the majority of citizens.

The authorities claim that they seek to “achieve a balance” between landlords and tenants. Still, in reality, they are implementing an explicit capitalist agenda aimed at fully liberalizing the real estate market, in line with the demands of investors and speculators, and as a continuation of the impoverishment and starvation policies they have pursued for years, at the urging of the International Monetary Fund.

We denounce this unjust law and consider it a blatant violation of the right to housing, which is guaranteed by the Constitution and international conventions. We also warn of its serious social repercussions, including the fragmentation of families and rising homelessness rates.

We salute the stance of the parliamentarians who opposed this law within the legislature. We affirm that the real battle will not be decided within a rigged parliament, but in the streets, through grassroots committees and tenant-led resistance initiatives.

We call on political forces, professional syndicates, and civil society organizations to:
1. Form a unified front to reject the law and organize popular campaigns to overturn it.
2. Support tenants in organizing themselves within their neighborhoods to defend their homes and oppose eviction.
3. Advocate for fair housing policies that guarantee affordable rent and secure housing for all.
4. Work to defeat the candidates of Sisi’s parties who supported the law in the upcoming parliamentary elections.
Housing is a right, not a commodity.
Down with the mass eviction law.
Full solidarity with tenants in the face of displacement.