No place like home for the families of Abu Dhabi's Al Falah villas

Residents who have moved into Al Falah neighbourhood are happy with their new villas.

Rehab Sayed Ahmed, seen here with her son Yosef Salem, now lives comfortably in a five-bedroom villa with her seven-member family. Ravindranath K / The National

ABU DHABI // Residents of the newly built Al Falah villas are happy to have a home they can now call their own.

Mohammed Ismail, 48, moved into his house only 15 days ago. He and his family - five children and his wife - used to live in a rented villa in Khalifa City A.

Mr Ismail got the approval for his house in June, and once their lease came to an end, they moved to their new five-bedroom villa. "I need this house for my family," he said. "I need to be able to provide stability."

Before moving into the villa in Khalifa City, the family were in a rented villa in Khalidya, and stayed there for 12 years.

"As long as I'm out of the rented villas, it doesn't matter where I am," Mr Ismail said.

"I was ecstatic, I have been waiting for years and that call changed my life," he said.

"The country provides for the people, thank God. And now my family is happy as well."

Mona Al Ghassani moved into her three-bedroom villa in late November after having lived in an apartment for more than 10 years.

She and her son, Hussain, 16, initially had a hard time coping in the new area but are now settled in perfectly.

"We didn't know how to get here, or how to get out. With all the roundabouts it was very confusing," she said. "And there isn't a supermarket yet, but thankfully we found a close one."

Mrs Al Ghassani applied for a house more than 15 years ago, and got the approval for her villa last June.

"I asked my niece to get my mobile phone, and found a message that said I'm getting a new villa," she said. "I started screaming with joy, I couldn't believe I was finally getting it."

She agreed with the initiative to build Emirati housing and said it was a good idea to help the youth.

"After all, this is all for my son," she said.

Rehab Sayed Ahmed used to live in a one-bedroom villa in Bani Yas with her mother, brother and four children.

She applied for a house more than three years ago, and said the timing of the approval was perfect.

"The villa we were in was small and broken down. Thank God the roof didn't collapse on us," she said.

When she got the approval in August, she moved into the house immediately. "We got what we wanted, thank God. We were given the help that we needed," she said.

Mrs Ahmed and her family now live comfortably in a five-bedroom villa.