If you don't mind me asking; Surely it would make sense to take the allowance and rent a place where you have control of where you stay and how long you stay as opposed to taking the supplied accommodation and risk being placed in a bad apartment in a less popular part of town for the period of your contract where you cannot move out unless you buy? From what I can see on sites like dubizzle.com etc... one can get a decent 2 bedroom apartment in a good part of town within the housing allowance that is provided of 14325 AED/month. Am I missing something?