Tenant Eviction Law: No Alternative to Grassroots Organizing to Defend Housing

Statement by the Revolutionary Socialists

Today, Abdel Fattah El-Sisi ratified Law No. 164 of 2025 regarding “Property Rentals,” dispelling yet another recurring illusion about him being “aligned with the poor” or “balancing the interests of businessmen and the public.” This law, which threatens millions of residents with eviction from their homes, comes as no surprise to anyone who has followed El-Sisi’s policies over the past decade. This regime transformed housing from a right into a commodity, handing it entirely over to a handful of major investors.

Meanwhile, some lawyers and human rights advocates are promoting new judicial illusions, claiming that the law can be struck down through the Constitutional Court, without alerting people that such legal avenues do not halt the law’s implementation and could drag on for years, during which residents are displaced under the guise of “legitimacy.”

The government, which has failed to build more than one million housing units over the past decade, is now proposing to construct 1.6 million units in just five years as replacement housing for tenants—without clear plans, budgets, or guarantees. Most likely, as before, people with low incomes will be asked to purchase housing at exorbitant prices or face eviction and homelessness.

In the face of this catastrophe, there is no luxury of waiting for government promises or relying on constitutional appeals. The only way to defend the right to housing is through grassroots organizing—by establishing tenant associations and committees on the ground to confront attempts to evict people from their homes. These associations and committees will produce authentic leadership defending tenants’ rights.

We call on all those affected and all who care about the right to housing, as well as political and human rights groups, to reject this law in practice on the ground, and to initiate organizing tenants into their ranks immediately in defense of their homes and their right to a dignified life.
My shoulder to your shoulder… unite your ranks.