A 2005 MIT study by Hiba Bou Akar which analyzed the access to cheap housing by
Shiites who had lived through two displacement (
Lebanese civil war, and post-1992 reconstruction of the suburbs) gave rise to three findings: First, the monetary compensation received by displaced squatters after the war was, in theory, adequate to allow them to get legal housing in Beirut; however the implementation was unstable and led the families to bind their resources to vacant apartments before they could move to them. Second, political parties' intervention in the phase of compensation, as well as in the housing market of Sahra Choueifat, managed to acquire better housing and tenure rights for those who were displaced, but gave rise to religious pockets within a religiously sensitive area. Moreover, the use of legal tools by contesting groups such as voting, zoning, and manipulation of public services in Sahra Choueifat, is resulting in the division of space in a political manner; define a group’s space and excluding others. This is causing these families to move again in yet another, third phase of displacement, from Sahra Choueifat to more Shiite-dominated suburbs. In the suburb there is almost no risk of being consumed by or starting a wildfire, seeing as how it is fire-risk free according to some studies. The area of Choueifat El Oumara is home to the Kamal Jomblat hospital. ==
2024 airstrikes ==