‘Where else can we go?’ As refugees return, Afghanistan’s housing crisis deepens

From October 5 to 11 alone, more than 37,000 people returned, and 52 per cent of them were women, according to UNHCR. One in four arriving households is headed by a woman. UNHCR warns that Afghanistan’s response plan for 2025 is only 35 per cent funded, leaving millions without shelter or cash assistance.

Parks become camps

Across Herat, public spaces have transformed into makeshift refugee camps. In Jami Park, part of the green belt surrounding the shrine of the 8th-century mystic Mawlana Abdul Rahman Jami, hundreds of tents stretch between the trees. Here, families are dependent on charitable organisations and locals for medical care, drinking water, and food.

“This place is like the refugee camps in Iran. There are long queues for the toilets, no showers, and only charities bring water and food,” says Fariha*, a mother of four who was deported in July.

Taliban officials have divided the park into separate zones for families and single men, enforcing strict rules over women. Fariha says some families have been expelled for not meeting the Taliban dress codes.

Soaring rents, shrinking options

In the Jebrael district, Sudaba*, once a teacher at a self-run school for children in Tehran, now lives inside a mosque with her five-year-old son and three younger sisters. “We found one house for 12,000 afghanis a month,” she says. “But none of us have jobs. How can we afford it?”

Fariha’s husband worked in Iran for 10 years. She says they saved money to start a new life back home, but they can’t afford a house now. “The rents have doubled, a house that cost 2,500 afghanis now costs 5,000.”

According to real estate agents, rents in Herat have surged between 40 and 70 per cent in recent months, driven by demand from returnees and lack of available housing. In most districts, a basic home now costs at least 5,000 afghanis (£50) per month.

“Dozens of people come every day, mostly returnees. Either there are no houses, or they can’t pay,” says Serajuddin, who runs an estate agency. “We show them homes we know they can’t afford, because there’s nothing else.”

New Taliban regulations have made the search for homes harder. Tenants must provide personal details of all individuals, including children, along with a guarantor, to the intelligence agency. The wakil gozar (neighborhood representative) is required to report unfamiliar faces to the intelligence agency.

Abdul Rouf*, a carpenter deported from Mashhad, found a small house for 6,000 afghanis. “But no one would vouch for me,” he says. “Without a guarantor, landlords are afraid to rent. I’ve been sleeping in a mosque for three weeks.”

A fragile country under strain

UNHCR warns that large-scale, involuntary returns are destabilising an already fragile country. Afghanistan remains gripped by poverty, natural disasters, and shrinking aid budgets. Recent earthquakes in the east have left nearly half a million people in need of humanitarian assistance, stretching the country’s capacity even further.

Nearly half the population lives in poverty. In early 2025, about 14.8 million people were facing food shortages, including 4.7 million women and children suffering from acute malnutrition. The combination of stagnant incomes, diminished international assistance, restrictions on women’s economic participation, and mounting humanitarian needs has left millions of Afghans extremely vulnerable. Now, forced deportations have intensified the misery.

Back on the rooftop, as the wind sweeps across Herat, Soheila tucks her children under a thin blanket. She is worried. Winter is coming, and thousands like her have no place to call home.

* Names have been changed to protect identity.

(This story was published in partnership with the Zan Times. The author is a Zan Times journalist in Afghanistan writing under a pseudonym for safety reasons.)