Egypt’s decades-long housing crisis continues to worsen, with activists and authorities alike expressing concern about a continuing explosion of illegal, unsafe construction that is one of the consequences. Photojournalist Hamada Elrasam provides a glimpse of conditions that have resulted from unmanaged growth.
As Egypt's Housing Crisis Intensifies, Dangers Mount
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Modern problems in an ancient land. Cairo’s skyline shows overcrowding that has resulted from unmanaged growth and often nonexistent planning.
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While the demand for new housing grows exponentially, brick production thrives. A large kiln on the Cairo-Alexandria highway turns out thousands of bricks a day to feed Egypt’s voracious — and in many cases illegal — building boom.
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Dahab Island on the Nile is one of many informal neighborhoods in Cairo where the shortage of homes has prompted many to build without permits and caused many to build on what were fertile, highly productive farmlands along the Nile.
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Apartment towers stand in Maadi, an affluent Cairo suburb where riverfront property sells at a premium. For investors, the choice between putting big money into booming real estate and farmland is a no-brainer.