Shafaq News- Nineveh
Residents of a public housing complex in western Mosul, the capital of Iraq's northern Nineveh province, staged a protest on Wednesday against eviction notices and plans to sell the apartments through public auctions or private investors, warning that hundreds of low-income families could be displaced.
The Bab Sinjar complex houses about 320 apartments occupied by families of members of the security forces killed in the line of duty, widows, displaced people, and other vulnerable households, protesters told Shafaq News. Many were accommodated there after years of displacement caused by the ISIS occupation of Mosul between 2014 and 2017 and the battle to retake the city, which left much of the western half in ruins.
Notices requiring higher rent payments or vacating the apartments ahead of proposed auctions have arrived repeatedly, residents said, arguing that state social welfare payments are insufficient to cover the new rents or secure alternative housing.
Residents called on the governor of Nineveh and relevant authorities to cancel the rent charges and transfer ownership of the apartments to their current occupants.
: Nineveh Council lifts building restrictions on Mosul outskirts
