Affordable Housing for the Urban Poor in India

Housing is one of the three basic needs of human beings, and it is this need which is not fulfilled in the case of urban poor. Provision of housing has not kept pace with the increased requirements of dwelling units in urban India. There has been a huge increase in urban population due to heavy immigration from rural areas along with natural growth rate of population. Most of the urban poor are unable to afford decent housing with basic facilities due to low and unstable incomes on the one hand and sky rocketing prices of land and construction on the other hand. The poor are forced to live in illegal and uninhabitable slums deprived of basic facilities such as regular electricity, water and sewerage connection or waste disposal systems. They lead a life rife with squalor and disease. Governments have tried to solve this problem by providing subsidized housing, but these are at the peripheries of cities rendering them useless for livelihood purposes. It is important to provide them with residence near their place of work. Owned housing may not be a solution to this problem. Subsidized rental housing needs to supplement owned housing. Rental housing will also provide flexibility for the migrant working population. Along with this land lying unused by public authorities could also be used to provide land banks for building housing for the poor. Legalized slums should be improved and those dwelling in drums built on encroached land should be provided alternate accommodation which must be cheap and resilient even though fitted with only bare minimum necessities. Cities should expand vertically instead of horizontally so that more people can be accommodated in less area.