NPTEL course: Housing Policy and Planning

Dr. Uttam K. Roy, IIT Roorkee: January-March 2017

NPTEL course on

Housing Policy and Planning

Week-One Lectures consist following topics

1) Definition & basic concepts
2) Classifications
3) Housing situation in India
4) Public interventions in Housing in India

Note:
1. This note has five sections corresponding to five lectures
2. This lecture note is to be referred along with the video lectures for better understanding

1.0 Introduction
House or a home is a basic need for human being. Often, we perceive it differently. Oxford dictionary
defines housing as, Houses and flats considered collectively. However, we are going to elaborate further
the term housing. Housing does not mean only houses. It is much more than a physical entity which is
called the house. Think about your childhood homes or home spaces which you might miss now. Can you
recall spaces in and around your home which you liked and influenced you most? Can you imagine the
influences of those spaces in shaping your personality? Are those spaces designed? How was that home
built? When? By whom? Can you now understand that the concept of the home does encompass many
dimensions? It is the living environment we create around us. So, in order to create meaningful living
spaces we need to know its various perspectives from where we can study the subject housing. Those
perspectives are listed below:

1.1 Various perspectives of housing

Firstly, housing essentially means multiple units of dwelling so that it creates a community. We cannot
live in isolation since we are a social animal. The multiple units can be in same buildings or different
buildings or at the cluster, neighbourhood or higher level of development. Secondly, we need some basic
and essential services to survive. For example, the drinking waters, sanitation and accessibility. Therefore,
multiple units must have some essential services for each of the units. Thirdly the housing location and
its accessibility is very much influenced and related to the means and access to livelihood or occupation.
Ultimately we earn our livelihood either from any business, industrial sector or agriculture. Apart from
livelihood we also need offsite facilities like education, shops, open recreational areas for living. Next
dimension which is very important in policy and planning of housing is capacity and capability of
purchasing or owning a house. This is defined as housing affordability. Apart from all these parameters,
there are also individual factors which influence the choice and use of housing. Thus all such dimensions
are illustrated below with a simple diagram.

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 NPTEL course: Housing Policy and Planning
Dr. Uttam K. Roy, IIT Roorkee: January-March 2017

Therefore, the various perspectives of

MULTIPLE
UNITS housing (Fig 1.1) as we defined in the
previous section are
1. Multiple units
INDIVIDUALITY COMMUNITY
2. Community
3. Services
HOUSING 4. Livelihood
5. Affordability
AFFORDABILITY SERVICES 6. Individuality

LIVELIHOOD

We would like to attempt to understand

the dynamics of all such perspectives in
Fig 1.1 Various Perspectives of Housing studying the housing policy and planning
in this course.
1.2 Human need and Housing
Can a house satisfy all human need? Probably not.
However, a house can satisfy the basic need and
enable a person to fulfill further needs. We know
great social scientist Maslow's (1943, 1954)
hierarchy of needs model (Figure 1.2) which
includes five stages of human needs. This five
stage model can be divided into basic (or
deficiency) needs (e.g. physiological, safety) and
growth needs (e.g. love, and esteem) which relate
to fulfilling our human potential (self-
actualization). Maslow (1943) stated that people
are motivated to achieve certain needs and that
some needs take precedence over others. When one
need is fulfilled a person seeks to fulfill the next Figure-1.2: Maslows Model of Human Need
one, and so on. A house and housing provide and
fulfills directly basic need (very important physiological and safety need except food). Once it is fulfilled
a person will try to achieve other higher level need like social, esteem and self-actualization needs.
Therefore, a house or shelter makes a path for fulfilling all human need directly or indirectly.
1.3 Significance of housing study
Shelter is one of the basic needs of human beings, coming only next to food and clothing. Its importance
was accepted from the dawn of history. Its importance, however, has increased with the growth of
civilization. During the early ages, houses were constructed to provide shelter from the external world and
were associated with the concept of safety and security from the forces of nature. With the growth of
modern civilizations, it came to be associated with infrastructure and amenities, turning it into an object
from which physical and emotional well-being are derived by humans. Therefore, the requirements of a
house have increased manifold and diverse. It is the necessities of a fast paced modern life that has given

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 NPTEL course: Housing Policy and Planning
Dr. Uttam K. Roy, IIT Roorkee: January-March 2017

rise to many alternative forms of family systems apart from traditional homes. Following this, the study
of housing is very much significant for the following reasons
We discussed that housing is the basic human need and house construction is one of the earliest
practices human being did
In absence of house, people make slums, squatter and other unintended settlements and makes our
habitat more challenging.
Since housing as a predominant landuse of any city or village makes the built environment.
Therefore, planning and designing of housing and human settlement is crucial to make our
country beautiful
Mass housing construction involves higher investment and employment generation. Therefore,
we should take the housing study not only as a subject of optional planning and policy also as an
economic and social science matters.
Finally, lack of comprehensive knowledge in policy, planning and strategy for housing lead to
approximation and human errors in planning and development causing further difficulty.
2.0 Housing Classifications
This diversity of housing need as discussed in the earlier section has been absorbed by the market to
eventually generate various categories of housing systems and subsystems thereon, which are classified
and discussed in detail here. Housing is a social need and forms an integral part of good infrastructure.
As a product, housing can be understood in terms of certain criteria which describe and classify is type,
form and function. To understand that in a better way the housing is being classified here on the following
basis separately,
Land ownership
Origin/supply
Structural quality
Economic groups
Typology of built form
Suppliers /origin
Functionality
Further classification is dealt with in detail in the following paragraphs.
2.1 Based on land-ownership
Based on land ownership, housing can be categorized into a freehold property, leasehold property and
rental housing. The main difference between these lies in the land ownership and control. As a freehold
property owner, one owns the land as well as the building on it for perpetuity. He may make alterations in
the house/land without any permissions provided it does not flout the local planning norms. In leasehold,
on the other hand, land ownership is given by the government for a specified period of time (usually 99
years). It is possible to extend the leasehold by paying a price for a lease extension. During the tenure of
the lease, the house owner becomes a shareholder in the property. This is most often seen in the group
housing (multi-family) system, where the apartments are owned by the owner for a fixed term but the land
is not. When the lease expires, the ownership of property reverts back to the freehold owner. Rental
housing is an arrangement in which a fixed amount is paid by the occupant (tenant) to the owner for
temporary use of house or its associated services. It is gradually increasing as an affordable and viable
option in both plotted as well as group housing at present and near future.
2.2 Classification of Housing based on origin/supply
The supply of housing is a continuous process and happens in three forms i.e. organic, formal and
informal system. A brief description is discussed below.

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 NPTEL course: Housing Policy and Planning
Dr. Uttam K. Roy, IIT Roorkee: January-March 2017

2.2.1 Organic housing

This mechanism is unplanned and results as a natural growth of settlements, be it a town or a village.
These settlements have evolved over time without any conscious measures taken for their growth and that
have now been included in the urban development. These settlements are not illegal and therefore cannot
be termed informal. (Sivam, A. 2003) Therefore it is found both in urban as well as in rural setting. It can
be further divided into the following sub-systems namely
Old city/inner city housing
The outcome of the natural growth of older part of an urban area. Resulting housing is mostly
affordable by people from middle and lower income groups as the prevailing infrastructure is of a
lower quality than in other parts of the city.
Urban village
An urban village is the resultant of rapid spatial expansion of an urban area and its associated
infrastructure around a previously existing rural area. This area essentially forms a part of the
city/urban area. Unlike slums, here the land is owned by the residents and thus illegal encroachments
are absent. In initial stages of its formation, there is substantial land within the individual ownership,
which transforms within some period of time due to market forces. Being engulfed in developed
areas, such urban villages quickly gain a higher land value and density and eventually become
congested. As a result, they exhibit extremely poor infrastructure services, forcing people to live in
unhygienic conditions. People mostly belonging to economically weaker sections are inhabitants of
urban villages.
Traditional housing
This supply system is borne out of the natural expansion of a rural area in the form of new settlements
or hamlets.
Private plotted houses:
Arising in similar areas as traditional housing, they differ only in their form and structure, which is
not constructed in vernacular style. As such, they are mostly found to be occupied by lower and
middle-income groups living in rural communes or peri-urban areas.

2.2.2 Formal housing

This refers to the planned delivery of housing by the public sector, private sector or collaboration between
the public and private sector. Formal developments are those that have the legal sanction of planning
agency prior to development, have been developed within the framework of government rule, regulations
and controls and have the minimum required quality of environment and infrastructure. (Sivam, A. 2003)
The formal housing supply is generated through the following delivery mechanisms:
Private developers housing
In this case, the housing is delivered by private developers, builders or promoters on a leasehold
basis. They primarily target upper and mid to high-end owners.
Public developers housing
This delivery mechanism involves supply through government agencies and bodies that include
development authorities, urban local bodies and other nodal and parastatal agencies. It is essentially
developed as social housing forming a part of social welfare schemes.
Joint venture housing
This mode of delivery mechanism employs collaborations between private and public sector. Termed
as PPP (Public Private Partnership), this mechanism came into being in the latter half of 2008-09 due

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 NPTEL course: Housing Policy and Planning
Dr. Uttam K. Roy, IIT Roorkee: January-March 2017

to a rise in the need for affordable housing in India. Therefore, the primary target of joint ventures
housing supply includes low, mid and high-income groups.
Cooperative housing
This is an arrangement in which an association or corporation owns a group of housing units and
common areas for the use of all residents. The individual participants own a share in the cooperative
which entitles them to occupy a unit and to have equal access to the common areas. This is a similar
arrangement as private group housing but the difference here is that the land and property rights rest
with the housing cooperative as opposed to developers in the former case.
Employees or Institutional housing
This is a type of subsidized housing that is provided by specific institutions to the employees working
for them. They are relating to, formulated by and managed by these institutions.
Rental housing
Formal rental housing is supplied by the government, private agencies or individuals on mutually
negotiated terms. Rental housing is controlled by the respective rent control Acts of the state.

2.2.3 Informal Housing

the informal housing supply is characterized by illegal settlements in the form of slums, squatters and
pavement dwellings. Informal housing sector development is perhaps consequences of some significant
issues always happening in cities of developing countries. Among them a high rate of population in-
migration to the city, lack of public investment in housing, adoption of 2 misguided and often western
based urban planning policies. (O'Hare, Abbott & Barke 1998). They mostly evolve due to unavailability
of adequate housing in the formal market. The common characteristics of informal housing are insecurity
of tenure, low standard of infrastructure and services. Informal housing is built defying minimum
standards of housing regulations.
2.3 Classification of Housing based on economic groups
Housing is also classified based on the socio-economic classes slated to occupy them. Accordingly, they
are classified as High Income Group (HIG), Middle Income Group (MIG), Lower Income Group (LIG)
and Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) housing typologies. The income slabs for this socio-economic
distribution is given and revised by Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation (MoHUPA) and
currently stands at the following:
EWS Annual Income up to Rs 3 lakh
LIG Annual income between 3 below 6 lakh
Many research organizations and different state policies have laid down different standards for defining
EWS, LIG, MIG and HIG housing. Some of them are based on the maximum payable EMI while others
are based on their carpet area. For example, a research conducted by Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL) Group
lays down the minimum volume of habitation that should be followed while designing housing for
different economic groups to make them affordable by the target groups.
2.4 Classification of housing based on built form
Housing typologies are also classified into high rise, mid rise and low rise based on their built masses. A
high rise or tall building is a multi-story multi-dwelling unit structure on which the occupants depend
upon elevators to reach their destinations. According to building code in India, any building is considered
low-rise if it has upto 4 floors, medium rise if it has 5-11 floors and high-rise if it has more than 11 floors
or its height is more than 30m. Since high-rise structures have the potential to decongest the urban sprawl
on the ground level, they are becoming more popular in cities to increase density and accommodate

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 NPTEL course: Housing Policy and Planning
Dr. Uttam K. Roy, IIT Roorkee: January-March 2017

multiple families in lesser space. Other benefits include important landmark creation, efficient land use
and the creation of unique skyline.
2.5 Classification of housing based on structural quality
Based on the dwelling structure, census of India defines houses into kutcha houses, pucca houses and
semi pucca houses. The census defines a kutcha house as a house with mud, thatch walls and thatch
roofs, i.e., walls made of grass, leaves, reeds etc., and roof or similar materials. Pucca house is the one of
which predominant materials of the wall are burnt bricks, G.I. Sheets or other metal sheets, stone, cement,
concrete etc. and roof are tiles, slate, corrugated iron, zinc or other metal sheets or asbestos, cement
sheets, burnt bricks, limestone RBC/RCC etc. Houses which do not fail within the pucca/ kutcha category
are categorized as semi- pucca houses. Generally, such houses will have either the wall or roof of pucca
material.
2.6 Classification of housing based on functionality
There are various special categories of housing which are distributed according to their functionality.
They are enumerated as under:
Transit house
These are privately owned houses which are rented on an hourly basis by companies for their
employees who are travelling.
Extreme weather house
Popularly made by using prefabricated structures, an extreme weather house incorporates all the
necessary services in a compact and modular form. Portable Igloos are a common example of such
houses.
Old age/senior citizens housing
Sometimes called as old age home or retirement home, this housing typology is a multi-residence
housing facility intended for senior citizens. Typically, each person or couple in the home has
an apartment-style room or suite of rooms. Additional facilities are provided within the building. This
can include facilities for meals, gatherings, recreation activities, and some form of health or hospice
care. A place in a retirement home can be paid for on a rental basis, like an apartment, or can be
bought in perpetuity on the same basis as a condominium.
Working women/men home/hostels
These are budget oriented inexpensive lodging spaces, usually rented by working, usually young
individuals, for a specific period of time. They contain independent or shared living spaces and shared
common amenities such as toilets, food and recreation areas.
Service apartments
A serviced apartment is a fully furnished apartment available for both short-term as well as long-term
stays, providing all the hotel-like amenities, such as having room service, a fitness center, a laundry
room, and/or a recreation room. They are preferred by people who travel frequently for business
purposes.

3.0 Housing situation in India

3.1 Shortage
As per the Task Force report by MOHUPA submitted in 2012, the current housing shortage in India
stands at 18.78 million households, 95% of which is present in LIG and EWS sections. The prominence
of shortage among the lower income groups has been seen to increase in the past five decades. Further, it

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 NPTEL course: Housing Policy and Planning
Dr. Uttam K. Roy, IIT Roorkee: January-March 2017

has been seen to increase in the urban scenario more than in the rural sectors. As per statistics, 1 in every
10 persons in the rural sector does not have a house while in urban sectors, 1 in every 6 persons does not
have a house. This is apparent in the urban sectors, that have become places of high concentration leading
to the poor housing stock, congestion and obsolescence. Therefore, apart from quantity, the shortage also
exists in terms of quality of housing.
3.2 Characteristics of Housing situation
Traditionally, providing low-cost housing has been in the domain of the government. However, in the
past three decades, the government policies have put a thrust on private sector participation in the supply
and delivery of housing, leading to the stupendous growth of the residential real estate market. Owing to
market forces, the supply coming from the real estate developers mainly constitutes of the high-end
luxury apartments, affordable only by the middle and high-income groups. As a consequence, the low-
income housing development suffers neglect from both the government and the private sector. This
underlines the disparity between the demand and supply of housing leading to outcomes such as slums,
squatter settlements, urban villages and other illegal settlements. These gaps between the demand-supply
between urban and rural sectors and among various economic groups form the underlying cause of
housing shortage in India. Approximately housing market supply consists 85% share for HIG and MIG
whereas the share for the shortage for HIG and MIG is as low as 4 % only.
The Indian housing situation is characterized by a huge informal housing market. This is attributable to
the traditional business practices (eg Zamindari system, money lending system etc), unplanned growth,
lack of formal sources of finance in rural areas and lack of affordability. Owing to this, there are diverse
construction practices that are followed throughout the country. While the diversity is also due to the
difference in vernacular forms of construction, however, the urban communes are increasingly witnessing
a rise in various forms of illegal construction. Some examples are shown in the figures below.
The ongoing urbanization has resulted in mass migration to cities and finding accommodation services in
multi-story multi-dwelling buildings. This paradigm shift is mostly observed in cities and is very different
from the rural and peri-urban areas where the preference is still for plotted independent housing
development. The housing shortage is amplified due to the lack of developable land. While the demand is
growing consistently due to population (especially urban population) growth, there are some techno-
political bottlenecks which amplify the situation by creating an artificial shortage of land. Even where
land is available for development, its location and the possibility to link the parcel with central nodes
becomes a barrier for development. The need for exploring housing options for migrants is one of the
important actions required.
All housing projects are driven by costs of construction, which are at a stupendous rise all over the
country, leading to high costs of the final output. Along with the buyers, the developers also grapple with
the issues of funding. Traditionally, funding for the housing sector in India was provided by HUDCO and
many scheduled banks. Banks have curtailed their exposure to real estate citing cautious measures leaving
high-cost finance options such as Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs) and Private Equity (PE)
funding as the only source of finance. Moreover, the high cost of finance coupled with the waning
demand has disrupted the cash flow situation of developers. Hence, developers are now deferring their
project launches, thereby altering the slated supply. Also, the high cost of finance is restraining them from
lowering housing prices.
Another major issue that forms a barrier to housing development is the preference and practice of obsolete
technology in construction. This leads to stretching of the time period of delivery, slowing down the
process of housing supply. This is also a major contributor to the demand-supply gap discussed earlier.
Apart from these, there are many other techno-legal processes which are not streamlined enough to
support smooth and efficient delivery of housing as a product in the system.
Housing in India continues to grow as a challenging sector due to various techno-legal and regulatory
bottlenecks, further widening the gap between its demand and supply. It, therefore, is in need of conscious

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 NPTEL course: Housing Policy and Planning
Dr. Uttam K. Roy, IIT Roorkee: January-March 2017

interventions from the government and participation from the private sector to provide technological
solutions, financing and delivery to bridge this gap. Thus major characteristics of the housing situation in
India can be simply summarized as below:
Urban-Rural disparity
Supply demand mismatch
Non-family housing need
Diverse Construction practices
Predominantly plotted housing
Less affordability
Land crunch
Governments priority

4.0 Housing Policy and Public Intervention

4.1 Housing and related schemes post independence
The housing sector in India has evolved from a social welfare provision to a market-based industry,
pulling in enormous investments from the private sector. It has grown from a basic right to becoming a
key driver in the economy, considering its huge multiplier effect. We see a number of initiatives in
various forms were taken by the government of India with significant learnings which time to time shaped
the policies and programmes. A chronological description is presented below

Period Initiatives Outcome

1950s and 1952: Subsidised Housing Scheme for Industrial Lack of funds, targets were not achieved
1960s Workers and Economically Weaker Sections
1954: Low Income Housing Scheme Existing housing stock was reduced in the process of
1956: Subsidised Housing Scheme for Plantation dismantling of depleted units
Workers Public housing was out of reach both in terms of
1956: Slum Clearance and Improvement Scheme economic affordability and physical location from the
1959: Middle Income Group (MIG) Housing Scheme workplace. This resulted in the growth of informal
1959: Rental Housing for State Government illegal private housing, which was affordable and well-
Employees connected, but of low quality built environment.
1959: Village Housing Projects Scheme
1959: Land Acquisition and development by State State governments were failed to assemble land for
government housing for urban poor. Growth in HIG/MIG housing
1961: Rent control Act stock was appreciable in proportion to demand.
1970s and 1970: Housing and Urban Development Corporation HIG/ MIG benefited most from housing finance
1980s (HUDCO) established organizations.
1971: Provision of House Sites of Houseless Workers
in Rural Areas 1972: Environmental Improvement of Government employees were the main beneficiaries of
Urban Slums public housing schemes.
1977: Housing Development Finance Corporation Despite efforts, there was slag in community
(HDFC) established participation and growth was slow in weaker sections
1980: Sites and Services Scheme 1981: Scheme of housing.
Urban Low-Cost Sanitation for Liberation of
Scavengers Rapid changes to institutional frameworks of programs
1980: Sites and Services Scheme and their structure slowed the process further.
1981 & 89: Scheme of Urban Low-Cost Sanitation for
Liberation of Scavengers
1985: Indira Awas Yojana
1986: Urban Basic Services Scheme (UBS)
1987: National Housing Bank (NHB) established
1988: National Housing Policy (NHP)
1990s and 1990: Building Materials and Technology Promotion Shortage of housing continued in LIG/ EWS sectors.
Council (BMTPC) replaces NBO Land assembling was still an issue. UBLs seemed to
2000s 1990: Night Shelter Scheme for Pavement Dwellers

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 NPTEL course: Housing Policy and Planning
Dr. Uttam K. Roy, IIT Roorkee: January-March 2017

1990: Nehru Rozgar Yojana's Scheme of Housing and lack in capacity to cope up with the targets.
Shelter Upgradation (SHASHU)
1990-01: Urban Basic Services for the Poor (UBSP) Community participation and Policy approach under
1996: National Slum Development Program (NSDP) JNNURM had limitations and thus resulted in
1998: 2 Million Housing Program 2001: Valmiki inappropriate usages of funds.
Ambedkar Aawas Yojana
2005: Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal
Mission, JnNURM
2007: National Urban Housing and Habitat Policy
(NUHHP)
2010 2013: Rajiv Awas Yojana Private participation in affordable housing was
onwards 2015:PMAY- Housing for all encouraged under RAY
Private sector Investment increased in AH, as is
considered as Infrastructure projects.

From the learning out of the above programme the key barriers faced by the government in
achieving housing for all people can be listed as under:
Housing affordability
Speedier technology and system
Availability of land
Institutional and policy framework
Building materials
Skilled and unskilled labor
Lack of appropriate standards, norms and schedules

4.2 Role of Government in housing delivery

However, in order to take a deeper insight in the approach in the public housing as described above, we
observe three major phases having different approach and role played by the government as described
below.
Phase 1 - 1950s 1980s (Provider of housing)
The responses of the government towards housing policy have undergone many paradigm shifts. Initially,
the approach was to provide subsidized housing to underprivileged sections of the society. Such agenda
were embedded in the initial FYPs which focused on industrial workers, economically weaker sections,
plantation workers, slums and government employees. This approach continued to 1980s, during which
many important organizations, namely National Building Organization (NBO), Housing and Urban
Development Corporation (HUDCO) and Housing Development Finance Corporation (HDFC) were
established.
Phase 2 Late 1980s mid 2000s (Enabler of housing)
The first concrete step taken by the government to govern the housing sector was the formulation of
National Housing Policy (NHP) and National Housing Bank (NHB) in 1988. Through this initiative, the
government attempted to tackle two issues regulatory framework and financing, respectively. The NHP
laid the foundation of housing policy in India and was modified or upgraded in future as a response to
more identified issues. This resulted in the amendment of NHP in 1994 and formulation of National
Habitat and Housing Policy (NHHP) in 1998. During this phase, the role of the government shifted to that
of an enabler of housing, intervening in areas that could enable the end users to avail and buy housing.
Phase 3 mid 2000s to present (Facilitator of housing)
Shifting approaches towards policy parameters

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 NPTEL course: Housing Policy and Planning
Dr. Uttam K. Roy, IIT Roorkee: January-March 2017

With the growth of Parameters Approach as a Approach as an Enabler Approach as a Facilitator

housing markets Provider
and increased Concept of Welfare good; Holistic commodity Housing development as a
involvement of housing No comprising of various market based activity for
private contribution to attributes inclusive growth of an urban
economic centre
stakeholders, the growth
focus areas for
housing policy Role of Marginal Partial Enhanced involvement in
private sector housing as well as land
makers shifted to delivery
generating more
demand and Target groups LIG, EWS,
Vulnerable
LIG, EWS, Vulnerable
sections, Urban Poor
MIG and HIG included
delivering more sections, Urban
supply of housing. Poor
Therefore, many Focus areas Institutional Infrastructure, Enabling environment for
demand and Housing and Environment, In-situ public sector participation,
supply side Slum upgradation and deepening of housing finance,
interventions were Rehabilitation amelioration, foundations of urban reforms , land related
introduced in the housing finance sector, issues, securing property rights,
multiple stakeholders capacity building
policies, while the
regulatory controls Funding Center Financial Institutions HFIs , cooperative housing
sources societies, CFIs
rested in the hands
of the government. Function of Regulatory Regulatory and Financial Housing as a state subject after
This is an era of states 74th CAA (1992)
cross- Community Negligible Theoretical but recognized Formalized
subsidization that involvement
has found success Addressing Extensive use Through cross- Through thriving market forces
in the market as a affordability of Subsidies subsidization; Improvement
profitable business of incomes
model. While Key strategy Supply Side Combination of Supply and Market Intervention and
evolving as a Intervention Demand Side Intervention community participation
facilitator of
housing development, the approach towards the constituent policy parameters also underwent
transformation and is documented in Table above.
Although there have been considerable efforts made in the housing policies and they have been updated
within tandem with the transforming situations, the housing sector still remains challenged by many
issues that form barriers for its smooth functioning. They include the problem of affordability, application
of obsolete technology causing a delay in delivering systems, availability of land, poor workmanship due
to lack of skills and a lack of standardization in the construction process. While many of these issues have
been addressed in the recent policies, still a lot remains to be done to realize Housing for All.
-------------------------------------------------------
Few questions to think and further study
1. Why is it so important to involve public and private agencies in housing delivery?
2. Why housing provision takes such a lengthy process? What are the barriers?
3. What is the role of professionals and academicians for solving housing problems?
4. What is the relation between the public housing and market supplied housing?
5. Are all the developing countries face the same problems? If so what are the approaches taken by
them? Is there any good practice?

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