GS-II: Urban spaces need better-designed homes and an egalitarian housing policy.

Context

Homelessness is on the rise and has been for the past half a century. Eight years ago, after the 2011 Census, the demand for new housing was at 25 lakh units. With demand rising exponentially and increasing migration numbers the current requirement for shelter stands at 30 lakh units.

Challenges in providing housing

1. Ineffective Programmes

• Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana aims to provide cheaper houses quickly to low-income groups, with substantial interest subsidies on housing loans. The previous scheme, Awas Yojna, has been attempting the same since 1985 without much success.
• State housing boards have similar unachievable goals.

2. Idea of worship

• In the early 1950s, new houses in most cities relied on the bungalow model. The home’s ownership, independence, and property rights were paramount.
• 70 years later, despite a 100-fold increase in city population density and land values, little has changed from that ideal.
• The unwillingness of a homeowner to rent out when the legal rights grossly favour tenants.

Factors need to be evaluated in the search for a new model

• Stringent urban land reforms would be the first step in that direction
• Making housing part of city infrastructure projects, the government takes away land and construction from private builders and creates diverse pockets of housing in different parts of the city.
• Ensuring citizens have easy access to subsidized rental housing without legal rights of ownership. Rental units would allow residents to live close to the office and employment, keeping the neighbourhood changing and dynamic.
• It is imperative that a system of tax incentives and new rental regulations be used to achieve that goal
• The imposition of a high un-occupancy tax on buildings that are vacant will help to inhabit almost a third of private housing that remains empty in most cities.
• Stricter construction restrictions are put in place; the government should see housing as a social service and not a business venture
• Expanding the supply of low-income housing
• Current densities of residential space need more efficient modifications – smaller multifunctional and compact unit makes more sense. Given the high land values, unless there is an increase in floor area ratio (FAR) and a decrease in a home’s occupancy footprint, economies of scale will never be achieved in city residential areas
• Subsidies on efficient space planning, environmental considerations, and design that create shared community spaces should be encouraged and rewarded.

Conclusion

Housing in India is both inefficient, poorly constructed, and thoughtlessly designed and conforms to outmoded ideas that still hark to the bungalow prototype. Unless more thoughtfully-designed homes with newer materials and technologies and a more egalitarian housing policy become part of future government programs, it is these citadels of waste and decay that will remain the public face of the city.