House for rent, anyone?

Nani Afrida, The Jakarta Post, Banda Aceh

Efendy has been unable to sleep for three days. It's not the aftershocks that continue to rattle the tsunami-stricken province keeping him awake, but the order he received to move out of his rented house.

"The house owner doubled the rent," sighed the 38-year-old, who has been renting the house in Lamlagang, Banda Aceh, for three years.

When the tsunami hit on Dec. 26 the house suffered only minor damage, a crack here and there.

But Efendy's problem began after the disaster. With the arrival in Aceh of so many aid workers and volunteers, including foreigners, some looking for places to rent, the owner of Efendy's house decided to raise the rent to Rp 6 million (US$666) a year.

If Efendy cannot come up with the money by next week, the owner wants him to leave.

After losing many of his relatives in the disaster, Efendy has no one to turn to for help.

"I wonder where I will take my family and belongings," he said.

Asnawi's rented house is being leased by a foreign NGO for a year, at 10 times the Rp 6 million Asnawi used to pay.

Asnawi said he could never afford to pay that much so the owner wants him out.

"It makes me sad to be treated like this," Asnawi said.

With thousands of houses destroyed in the disaster, thousands of Acehnese are now living in shelters and are in dire need of housing. While some wealthy Acehnese can afford to rent houses, many others have to compete with newcomers living temporarily in the province.

Rents in the province have skyrocketed in the province. In some places, rents have jumped by as much as 1,000 percent.

Before the tsunami, a five-room house rented for about Rp 5 million a year. Now prices have jumped to as much as Rp 120 million. Some foreigners are reportedly paying as much as Rp 40 million per month for houses far from the coast.

House owners are certainly happy with these developments, many evicting longtime residents in order to make a quick buck from the tragedy.

"There's no harm in renting our houses to foreigners, (we're) helping them," said Abdullah, a house owner.