As a last word on housing, I want to clarify something. Most of the problems I have detailed are relatively small. The mold was pretty bad. So was the indoor rain. And the air conditioning complications. But I'm a minimalist by nature and I try to keep even the worst inconveniences in perspective. So what is my real issue with Kaust housing?
The first part of my distaste stems from the shear volume of problems. Day by day the place revealed another blemish, another cut corner. Some of them have been small, but together they add up to a very depressing, very debilitating place to live. After a while the disrepair is overwhelming.
The second part of my distaste comes from the grand expectations that Kaust established by their tireless propaganda. If there's one thing that Kaust does with gusto, it's creating an image, and not always a very faithful one. At every event I attended before coming to campus some representative was telling me how fabulous everything would be. Housing, among all the other fairytale assets, would be wonderful. As a member of the founding class, I would have the luxury of moving into a brand new apartment with all my necessary household items provided. I saw renderings, I saw models, I saw pictures. None of them were painted carelessly or soaking wet. In fact, despite numerous promises from Kaust representatives, many apartments were not even ready when the university opened in September 2009. Female students lived in a hotel in Jeddah and had to take an hour bus ride to and from campus. Same for much of the faculty. When the next wave of students came in September 2010, many of the founding class were still in "temporary" housing, sometimes living in rooms that were not designed for occupancy.
But above all, the hardest thing to deal with has been Kaust's negligent attitude toward correcting the housing problems. After everyone realized just how bad these houses were, much of the blame settled on the original construction company, the Bin Laden group. Kaust evicted this company and is allegedly filing suit against them. I applaud Kaust for their decisive action on this front, however this is where my applause stops. The construction company vacancy was filled by an equally bad mega-contractor called Saudi Oger and since then this name has haunted my dreams. It's hard to believe how systematically inept and how consistently outrageous a single company can be (more on this in the near future). Kaust, for their part, refuses to acknowledge the severity of the housing problems and how short Saudi Oger falls of addressing them. Worse, there is little communication between university higher-ups and the campus inhabitants, hence no accountability. After a year and a half of heavy-weight issues in my apartment, I still don't know who is ultimately responsible for maintenance operations.
If housing had not been free I don't think I would have stayed. I feel sorry for subsequent generations of graduates who will be paying for it. The poor quality, the long list of problems, and the total indifference of Kaust miraculously makes living in a three-story apartment a negative asset.
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