Inventing Institutional Structures For Delivering Affordable Shelter

Every State in India has an Affordable Housing policy. These are then sought to be implemented through various arms – be they Urban Local Bodies, Development Corporations or private developers. There is the PMAY for some financial support. We now have a national policy for rental housing on the anvil. The conception of all these policies is top-down. Clearly, in the face of the pressures of urbanisation the response of the market and the ULBs and Development Corporations lag behind demand. Equally, and perhaps more crucially, the top-down approach is concerned principally with quantitative targets and has little or no concern for a qualitative response to the creation of settlements and communities. We seem to be drifting toward high density, high rise, unsustainable concrete jungles in city after city.

Perhaps what we need is an institutional framework of professional services that bridge the gap between the intentions of policy and the need for homes in communities. In this webinar we will share experiences and build upon some ideas…….. Alpana Mitra has been leading the Rajkot Municipalities strategy toward a slum-free Rajkot. Vidhee Garg has been studying the institutional systems in The Netherlands and Austria for providing excellent social housing. Hussain Indorewala has studied the historic fault lines of housing policies in Mumbai. Ashok Lall has tried working with developers on affordable housing……..