Urban Housing 

GOVERNANCE/ ECONOMY/ SOCIETY

Topic:

• GS-2: Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation.

Urban Housing 

Issues

• Growth of Slums: The long-existing problem of shortage of affordable formal housing in India has pushed 40% of people to move to overcrowded informal and unauthorised colonies and slums.
• Harassment by authorities: Slum-dwellers live in congested and insecure localities, in constant danger of eviction and displacement.
• Substandard Quality of Life: Over 65 million people live in urban slums or informal settlements with poor living conditions, inadequate access to safe water and sanitation, overcrowding and insecure residential status. 

Why addressing Housing Issue is important?

• Socio-Economic Development: Security of land tenure and stable access to housing have the potential to unlock massive economic and social value for India’s poorest. 
• Multiplier Effect: Addressing ‘housing poverty’ in India can be a simultaneous weapon against many other developmental issues — better physical safety and public health, sanitation, livelihoods, dignified living and human development.

Way Ahead

• Sustainable approach: Government need to make the process of urbanisation more equitable and sustainable.
• Empowering Migrants: Maximising transparency in the rural-to-urban migration decisions and thus, empowering the otherwise vulnerable migrant workers.
• Civil Society Contribution: Entrepreneurs, nonprofits, philanthropists and policy-makers need to collectively develop meaningful interventions for the economically and socially disadvantaged.
• Leveraging innovation & digital technologies for inclusivity: Innovations in housing fabrication like use of Recycled material makes urbanization more sustainable, Open data solutions connecting the government, and a more focused economic push for property rights of women and facilitation rights of vulnerable populations/ tribals
• Institutional Welfare measures: Insurance facility, Legal aid, awareness, and dispute resolution; Innovations for affordable housing; Access to welfare schemes and financial services.

Connecting the dots:

• PM Awas Yojana
• PM SVANidhi Scheme