Somalia property boom forces refugees onto streets

Marion McKeone, a spokesman for Save the Children, said the internally displaced people have no food, water or humanitarian services.

“These people are being forced out of the makeshift homes and settlements in the city to wastelands beyond,” Mr. McKeone said. “These families remain among the most vulnerable in Somalia.

“For them, there is no prosperity. They have fled drought and conflict, they have been uprooted from their homes and now they are being uprooted again.”

Rising property values

Over the past few weeks, thousands of people have been evicted from school buildings in the Hodan district.

Refugees said a Turkish developer promised the landowner a large sum of money to rehabilitate the buildings.

In the seaside city, a home that sold for $50,000 during the intense fighting from 2006 to 2011 now can cost $100,000.

Rents also have doubled. A two-story home with three bedrooms that once rented for $500 a month now goes for $1,000 or more.

Property values close to the international airport, where African Union troops are based, have risen even more, sometimes five- or tenfold.

The well-heeled Maka Almukarramah Road, which boasts hotels and shopping plazas, in particular is experiencing skyrocketing prices.

The fledgling government, which is trying to exert authority over Mogadishu and the rest of the country, isn’t able to address the housing crunch.

“This is quite a challenging issue to the government. Even [the refugees’] presence in the city is posing a security threat,” said Abdihakim Guled, deputy chairman of the Somali Disaster Management Committee, an independent body that oversees refugees for the government.

Lamented one refugee mother, Hawalul Ibrahim Maalin: “Mogadishu is going to be for the rich. And for the poor and refugees, the awful bush.”

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