In the wake of the coronavirus crisis in Egypt, the government initiated a lockdown response in mid-March 2020 that entailed the full closure of schools, restaurants and retail businesses, as well as a night time curfew, and the closure of international airports. Based on this, 10 Tooba anticipated income loss for a large swathe of Egyptians, especially those who are informally employed. We also anticipated that any perceptible decline in income would directly affect the ability to pay rent or mortgage instalments, which would put hundreds of thousands of some 1.7 million low income tenants at the risk of eviction and homelessness. At the beginning of the crisis, 10 Tooba published measures through the Built Environment Observatory to both prevent evictions during the coronavirus crisis, as well as make available a comprehensive rental support programme to aid households in need.

After posting the policy note on the 10 Tooba page, we received around 20 requests for rental aid from followers and people who read the note. Within a week, 10 Tooba, a LLC, partnered with long-time colleagues, Megawra – The Built Environment Collective, and Alwan wa Awtar, NGOs that work on  community development. We moved quickly to coordinate a response effort believing that the money to support these vulnerable families existed, and simply needed an avenue to reach them. By the first week we had devised a methodology to vet the requests based on verified need, while also requesting donations from within circles of family and friends. Over the course of two months, we managed to raise over LE 25,000 from six benefactors. Megawra, Alwan wa Awtar along with two further NGOs outside Cairo, helped with the collection and disbursement of the aid to 23 out of 27 households that requested it in seven governorates. Based on the amount of the donations and the number of beneficiaries, we aimed to support the households with between one and two months’ rent on an inverse scale related to their rents; higher rental values received lower support, as almost half had already reported being late on rent by two to three months.

Team: Yahia Shawkat, Nehal Safi Eldin Partners: Megawra (May al-Ibrashy, Wael Badr Ali), Alwan wa Awtar (Yasmine el-Rifai)