A housing strategy for the urban poor

Abstract

The argument i n thi s work i s base d on th e hypothesis tha t ther e i s a certai n group of peopl e i n ou r societ y who have been overlooke d by al l housin g procedures, programmes and legislation . In othe r words thi s group of peopl e who accoun t fo r more tha n 50% of th e urban populatio n have become 'invisibl e t o th e forma l frame-work of housing . Due t o constraint s imposed throug h procedures, standard s and legislatio n and als o due t o th e lac k of accessibilit y t o resources, thes e peopl e suffe r from grea t hardshi p and do no t have th e freedom t o improvis e t h e shelte r tha t i s withi n thei r means. This dissertatio n attempts t o answe r thro e fundamenta l question s arisin g from t h e hypothesis - WHO ar e thes e invisibl e peopl e ? WHY ar e the y exclude d from procedures, standards, legislatio n and accessibilit y t o resource s ? and HOW can wo tak e measure s t o recognis e and improve peoples' effort s t o hous e themselves. Par t ono of thi s dissertatio n trie s t o identif y thes e peopl e i n terms of thei r economic and housin g condition . In th e analysis of th e economic conditio n i n Chapte r 1 th e urba n poor ar e identifie d i n terms of thei r employment which i s a direc t functio n of th e economic dualism. Chapte r 2 discusse s th e fallac y of applyin g physica l standard s t o measur e good housin g and good housin g i s judge d i n terms of it s usefulness t o th e users . Howovor i n orde r t o assess th e magnitud e of th e problem conventiona l quantitativ e methods of statin g th e housin g problem ar e als o used . The analysis of WHY thi s group of peopl e ar e invisibl e t o th e forma l framework i s dealt wit h i n par t two . This i s analyse d i n terms of accessibilit y t o housin g finance , house s constructe d by publi c authorities , lan d and how officia l standard s and legislatio n inhibi t peopl e from seekin g solution s t o thei r own persona l housin g problem. I n th e analysis of housin g financ e i n chapte r 3 th e difficult y o f arrivin g a t a fixe d figur e a s th e households' abilit y t o pay i s discusse d and i t i s conclude d tha t th e housin g process shoul d be suc h tha t th e household s have th e freedom t o decid e on how much the y ar e goin g t o pay fo r housing . Examining th e loa n systems i t ha s been observe d tha t th e procedur e involve d i n gettin g a housin g loa n restrict s it s accessibilit y t o a limite d group of peopl e i n th e society . The household s abilit y t o compete i n th e officiall y recognise d housin g marke t and t h e typ e of house s tha t ar e i n demand ar e als o discusse d i n thi s chapter .