The End of Rent Controls Promises Disruption in Cairo - New Lines Magazine

In early 2025, a video went viral on Facebook. In it, a middle-aged Egyptian woman in a black galabiya and patterned hijab addresses President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, telling him that, over the preceding 11 years, she has been on his side, despite “hardship, pain and humiliation.” She says that as life became more and more expensive, she continued to trust his words that Egyptians needed to be patient. She followed him even when people could no longer pay their bills, and half the population went to bed hungry. “But if you take that pen and sign off on Egyptians being kicked out of their houses, that will be the end of our common path, Mr. President,” she says. “If you sign this law, you will lose us.”