In pursuit of urban transformation, Kuwait is gentrifying its suburbs, but the development now forces expatriate residents to confront the reality of their peripheral existence. After living for decades in neighborhoods such as Jleeb Al-Shuyoukh, they face displacement, leaving them with neither a home nor a feasible alternative. As Kuwait modernizes its cities and reforms its labor and residency laws, the state must confront the question: If expatriates are indispensable to sustaining the economy, can they remain temporary and dispensable?
While Kuwait is trying to reshape a dysfunctional urban neighborhood, there is no replacement in place.
Jleeb Al-Shuyoukh is a densely populated suburb, where many migrant workers, predominantly South Asian, reside. In recent months, authorities have intensified crackdowns against unsafe and overcrowded housing, resulting in disconnection of electricity and water supplies, forcing residents to evacuate buildings. There was ample cause for government intervention arising from dangers of congested housing, unsafe structures, illegal modifications, and unlicensed commercial enterprises, signaling lack of oversight.
But there is another side to this story. While Kuwait is trying to reshape a dysfunctional urban neighborhood, there is no replacement in place. One July morning, residents of Jleeb were forced to vacate their homes and were left stranded in streets with their belongings. In the unforgiving Kuwait summer with outdoor temperatures at 122° Fahrenheit, losing a home can be fatal. So, what happens when a nation decides that an urban district no longer belongs in its future? And where are the displaced supposed to go?
Nations across the Gulf Cooperation Council have proposed establishing “labor cities” in urban development forums, but proposals do not house people. When redevelopment outruns resettlement, the state can demolish whole suburbs in a day, but communities cannot be rebuilt in a day. For low-income workers, the consequences of displacement are devastating. How do they keep families and belongings safe? How can they access established childcare, schools, transport and medical facilities? Above all, how do they rebuild community support networks?
As of late 2025, non-nationals constitute 69 percent of Kuwait’s population. They work in construction, health care and the oil sector, sustaining the economic growth of the nation. They are also employed as domestic help, taxi drivers, hotel staff and teachers, contributing to the socio-economic ethos. Yet their residency remains temporary; even after living in Kuwait for decades, raising children and forming socio-cultural networks, they still have no durable claim to residence or property and do not really belong.
If non-nationals sustain a nation’s growth, how can their lives in the host country be supported?
This housing insecurity also relates to the traditional kafala [sponsorship] system, as the legal presence of migrant workers links to a local kafil [sponsor], usually their employer, who has significant control over their residency status, ability to change employment and even permission to travel. In recent years, Kuwait following the examples of the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, has initiated labor and residency reforms, yet the kafala structure remains embedded in the system, suggesting that such practices regarding migrant workers also need restructuring.
The penultimate questions remain: If non-nationals sustain a nation’s growth, how can their lives in the host country be supported? How to provide holistic low-cost housing, accessible health care and family support within urban spaces? How to assist integration and assimilation of non-nationals into the nation’s social-cultural ethos? If low-cost labor cities are the answer, should their development not preempt displacement and redevelopment?
An integrated urban strategy, aligned to the needs of migrant workers and their families, would ensure that authorities can better regulate visa violations, municipal infringements, illegal activities and create safe housing, efficient transport systems and accessible essential services. National urban remodeling strategies must find a way to balance modernization with the migrants’ ability to exist within the system, especially when the system is reliant on those migrants.
