By Mohammad Sadat Khansari
State-run Tasnim News Agency ran an article last June, entitled, “Hoarding of Homes by Bank-e Maskan: What is the reason behind the keeping of 500 residential home in Urmia?” The article alleged, “It’s been more than 10 years since Bank-e Maskan has blatantly hoarded 500 residential homes in Urmia high-class district in Shora Street and around Urmia University. These residential homes not only have all the necessary needs of any home, but are even equipped with air conditioners, which are among least-priority necessities. But even in this situation, not a single person has been allowed to move in yet.”
The Bank-e Maskan, or Home Bank, is supposed to be an organization that facilitates the solving of housing issues for the Iranian people. Many officials have reported that it is now hoarding real estate.
This practice increases the already sky-high home and rent prices — which, along with unprecedented prices of food, fuel, transportation, and healthcare, has one citizen speaking for most ordinary Iranians, when he says, “The skyrocketing price of home rent is killing us. God knows that with these prices we can do nothing but cry. Home rent price has increased but our wages haven’t, have subsidies changed for the weak strata? No, but the prices have seen a three- to ten-fold increase.”
Reportedly, 7 million families, 37 percent of Iran’s population, live in rental homes, so the increase in rent and housing costs has become a crisis situation. In a public session of Iran’s Parliament, MP Hosseinali Shahriari warned about another uprising against the regime. “The price of people’s necessities have increased for 300 to 400 percent. The price of the housing has increased by 50-100 percent. Be afraid of the day where these people cannot bear this pressure and stand up against us,” Shahriari cautioned.
A shocking revelation is that thousands of Iranian families are living in their own semi-ruined homes. In an interview on the state-run television channel, a citizen from Tehran explained, “We are a family of eight, living in this ruined house. I swear to God that in this 60-meter-square house, I live with my son, daughter and my nephews.
The Iranian people see the life of luxury that regime officials enjoy in their houses and towers worth millions of dollars, and they are angry. They are no longer silent. After the January 2018 uprising, the Iranian people continue to demonstrate and to protest against the regime. They are demanding their economic, social, and political rights.
In Iran, the PMOI/MEK resistance units are publicly welcomed as the only solution to the regime’s corruption and mismanagement of Iran. Their numbers are growing, and their activities against the regime have increased and broadened in scope. The regime is alarmed, and they should be. An end to the repressive regime is in sight.
