According to Municipality regulations, a residential unit - whether a flat, villa or villa apartment - in Abu Dhabi can only be occupied by a single family or a maximum of three bachelors. However, in many areas of the capital that is not the reality - and that is creating concerns on several levels.
There are good reasons behind the rules. Too high a concentrations of people can lead to health and safety issues, while having too many single men in a residential area sometimes makes families uncomfortable. There is also some evidence of criminal activity being higher in areas where single men congregate.
These concerns prompted Abu Dhabi Municipality to launch a campaign, Say No to Bachelors Thronging Residential Neighbourhoods, urging people to report abuses. As The National reported yesterday, officials have uncovered 600 breaches of the law since the start of the year and have served notice on tenants, owners, investors and property managers to correct the situation. This situation has persisted despite fines of up to Dh100,000 for those who breach the occupancy limits.
The problem is that the so-called "bachelors" - who are mostly married men with wives and children to support back home - have few options. With modest incomes and the need and wish to remit as much money as possible to their families, they choose not to live alone. They also need to live close to their places of work, because cars or taxi fares would erode their remittances. As rents have risen, so too has the incidence of many men sharing accommodation to keep the cost reasonable.
While taking into account the very real concerns of families and neighbourhood groups, solutions need to be found that help these men. They make valuable contributions to the UAE economy and evicting them will not help society if they have nowhere to go except into similar illegal accommodation. That just moves the problem around.
Last year, the Al Ain Municipality announced that it would build residential compounds for single, male expatriates. It's an initiative that the authorities elsewhere could also consider.
UAE bachelors need somewhere to live
Single men are the most likely to share overcrowded accommodation and need viable alternatives.
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