For many families, bachelor men living in their areas are simply time bombs waiting to explode. These families allege such men are social, environmental, moral and security threats.
According to municipality law, singles are required to live in buildings on main streets and away from residential neighborhoods. However, many real estate offices are cheating the system by renting out residential units to bachelors in the middle of neighborhoods.
There are three types of bachelor workers in the Kingdom. The first are professionals who work in high paid jobs as doctors and engineers. They rarely pose problems and have a clean reputation. This group is disciplined, and prefers living in family buildings to avoid living among singles.
The second group consists of singles in middle-income jobs. These types of people usually live in old apartment buildings, which are generally tatty and lack security.
The last group is the undesired group of singles in low-paid jobs. Most of these people are expatriates and live in crowded apartments, which are filthy and lack basic services. These types of workers generally tend to share their accommodation with other single men.
University students tend to rent furnished apartments for singles. They find this better than renting a new home and buying furniture. Other students however, cannot afford furnished apartments and are forced to live in rough areas.
Sami Al-Shehri, a student at Dammam University, was forced to live in the city's Al-Sooq neighborhood. “The area is noisy and full of single expatriates. The university does not provide us with a hostel. The area where I live in is unsuitable for students to live. There is nothing I can do about it,” he said.
Bandar Al-Qahtani and Hasan Al-Zahrani are from Riyadh and study in Dammam. They often find problems locating suitable bachelor apartments and blame investors for not building enough good quality accommodation for single men. “Ninety-five percent of furnished apartments for singles are in bad shape unlike the furnished apartments for families,” said Al-Zahrani.
“There are students who are willing to pay more to live in nicer places. However, many building owners don't rent out to singles,” he added. Bachelor accommodations come with other types of difficulties. If one person is to fall ill with a cold then it is more than likely the illness will spread.
Mahmoud Abdul Rahman works for a chain of restaurants. He said that if customers saw how workers lived then they would most likely boycott all restaurants.
Meanwhile, families are totally against the idea of bachelor accommodation being located in neighborhoods that are designated for families.
Abdullah Al-Hussein said that bachelor men bring trouble. “Singles do not care about the environment and cleaning their homes,” he said. “They always create noise, especially when there is a football match. They are filthy most of the time and bring along parking problems, rats and all types of insects.”
Ahmad Al-Jabri, another family man, agrees. “Some real estate offices do not care about regulations when it comes to renting housing units to singles,” he said.
“They only care about money and rent apartments to singles when they're not supposed to. I wish the government would establish neighborhoods for singles and bring this problem to a close,” he added.
