Sheikh Iraj

Accommodation is a major issue in Dhaka, especially for students and young professionals. There are nearly 17 million people living in Dhaka and it’s not easy for everyone to find a suitable place to live. Every year, countless youths arrive in Dhaka to study or work. But many of them struggle to find affordable housing. The ever increasing rent in the city is a major factor they have to deal with. On top of that, many young people are denied their right to rent a place because they are single. Finding no other way, many are forced to share lodgings with several others. In such places, the level of security and privacy is usually minimal and they have to cope with grim living conditions.
Moreover, several public and private universities have little or no residential facilities. Some private universities have just started moving to permanent campuses, where they have plans to build dormitories to house some of their students. Besides, there is no law requiring public or private universities to have accommodation facilities, according to University Grants Commission (UGC) officials. Nevertheless, experts believe educational institutions should provide living facilities to ensure students can concentrate more on their studies.
This week, Y&I spoke with some young professionals, students, landlords, and university authorities. They shared with us their thoughts on the problems of accommodation in Dhaka, and possible solutions.
Shakirul Kabir Nahid, Young Professional

I have been living in Dhaka for the last 15 years. My parents live with me, but even now many consider us as outsiders. I got married about a year ago and we wanted to rent a new flat, but it’s so expensive that we changed our mind. We wanted to rent the flat just next door. I am sure the owner knew me, but he kept asking me weird questions and wanted Tk 20,000 for a two-bedroom flat. Even before making sure whether we would rent the place or not, the owner kept talking about advance rent. Dhaka is a very expensive place to live in, compared to other parts of the country.

Zaki Ameen, Young Professional

My brother and I are renting a three-bedroom apartment at Naya Paltan, but it was quite a struggle to find some decent housing. As we are both bachelors, landlords are usually reluctant to have us as tenants. It took me over three to four months to find a place, and my mother had to accompany me before the owner finally agreed to rent to us. Our apartment is located on the 6th floor, and I think that is the only reason they agreed to rent it to us _ as families are reluctant to live on the 6th floor with no elevator. This is a common practice among landlords, I think, as my friends faced the same dilemma when seeking a place in the capital. We are not allowed to go to the rooftop and even when friends come over, we have to answer a lot of questions. Our rent is Tk 25,000. But I am not even allowed to keep plants in my home!
 
Bengir Ahmed, Student
 
Living in Dhaka is really tough, especially if you come from outside, like I do. I live with my uncle, who is a bachelor, too. The place we are living in now doesn’t even have the basic facilities. Running water is not always available, there is no gas in the kitchen and the rent is quite high. Even in this situation, we are not thinking of leaving. What if the new flat we move to has worse facilities than this one? I give private tuition to students and my uncle is a jobholder. Every month, a large chunk of our earnings go in paying the rent. If the private university where I am studying had accommodation facility, it would have been much easier for me to live in Dhaka. After completing my graduation, I want to get a job in my hometown and live there.

Abdullah Al Hamid, Graduate

According to the University Grants Commission website, there are about 92 private universities and 37 public universities in Bangladesh and the best of them are located in Dhaka. This only indicates the number of youths living in the capital. I recently completed my graduation and I am thinking of going abroad for higher studies. I believe there should not be so many universities in the capital. I also feel this has allowed some landlords to increase the rent. I live with my family, but I have to come back home before midnight as the landlord shuts the main gate by 11.45 pm, and not everyone has a key for that. I also understand the landlord’s concerns about security. But I think for emergency purposes, all the families living here should have a duplicate key to the main exit.  

Mohammad Hira, Landlord
 
My father is actually the owner, but I collect the rents and communicate with the tenants on behalf of him. We don’t normally rent to students, because many of them don’t pay on time, or they violate rules that disturb other residents. If anything bad happens, you will notice that the police always interrogate the landowner more than anyone else. In order to avoid any such untoward situation, we set some rules after consulting with every tenant. We have to understand that rules are made so everyone can live in a safe and decent environment. Compared to the number of accommodation facilities, there are simply too many people living in Dhaka. The only solution is expanding the city horizontally, not just vertically with skyscrapers.

Abdul Mannan, Chairman, University Grants Commission

It is not possible for universities to have 100 per cent accommodation facilities for their students. It’s not mandatory for a university to have a dormitory, and since there is no such law, we can’t possibly force them. When I was a student of Dhaka University I was given a single room, but I was scared to live alone, so I shared the room with another student. My daughter also studied there, but she faced a completely different situation. She had to share her room with five other girls, although the room was initially allocated for three. Those girls didn’t have a proper environment where they could concentrate fully on their studies. I personally believe that educational institutions, especially universities, should have some sort of accommodation facilities for their students. Now, some students may not like the idea of living in a dormitory,  simply because the authorities impose rules that not everyone wants to obey. For example, female students are expected to return to their dormitory within a certain time, and not everyone agrees with that idea.    

AAMS Arefin Siddique, Vice Chancellor, Dhaka University
We often do not appreciate the hardship students and young professionals go through. It’s not easy to live in a new city and when it comes to a city like Dhaka, it’s more difficult. It is not simple to rent a house in Dhaka, especially for a young woman. We previously had some trouble with women’s accommodation, but now we have overcome that. There are about 35,000 students at Dhaka University and we have residential facilities for 18,000. We are building a new residential hall, where we would be able to accommodate another 1,200 students. Of course, it’s not possible to accommodate all the students, nowhere in the world have I seen something like that. Many of our students remain in our dorms even after their graduation. Mostly, they do not have a job or they do not have the money to rent outside. I personally believe if they left after graduation, then we would be able to tackle the housing situation much better. There should be a law that after completing graduation, the students must vacate the halls as soon as possible. I also believe good accommodation facility is essential for a student’s development.

Mijanur Rahman, VC, Jagannath University
Jagannath University doesn’t have any accommodation facilities for its students or teachers.  At the moment, there are 18,000 students in our university. We have a plan to build separate accommodation facilities for some of them. The new residential facilities will have room for 2,000 students. Male and female  students will have separate housing facilities. We are waiting for the approval of our plan from ECNEC (Executive Committee of the National Economic Council).

Md Rezwan Khan, VC, United International University

We will soon move to our permanent campus. There, we will have living facilities for 3,000 students. By the time we go to our new campus, we would have around 10,000 students and will require 300 teachers, so we are planning accordingly. Many students suffer due to traffic jams and security issues. We want to make sure our students don’t have to face such difficulties. When it comes to accommodation, I feel there should be no law that bounds universities to have residential facilities.

Md Sabur Khan, Chairman, Daffodil International University
 
Today, the number of university students is rising at a significant rate. We have 400 foreign students and many of them are from Somalia, Turkey and Nepal. Not all of them can cope with our food habit and with our accommodation facilities. We have around 18,000 students and many of them come from different villages across the country. They too face the same kind of difficulties. Parents come to us and ask for one single thing, which is a good residential facility. We are moving to our permanent campus next month. There, we have a target to accommodate 12,000 students. Already, 1,500 students are staying there. I believe a student needs a decent place to stay in order to truly focus on study. The residential facility I received at university helped me a great deal to develop. I got time to think about my career, I got to meet with many people and learned how to work in a group. It’s crucial for a student to have a proper residential facility, only then he/she would be able to learn more.  

Ismat Shreen, Relationship Manager, BRAC University
 
We do not have a regular residential facility for all of our students. For female students who come from remote places of the country, we have a place for 113 where they can stay temporarily. We have a permanent campus in Savar and there, all our students have to spend at least one semester. There they study English, Ethics and Bangladesh Studies. Every semester, about 500 students live there. We are building a new campus at Merul Badda, there we are planning to organise some accommodation facilities for students.