Low-Cost Housing

The study of literature includes a deep investigation of the research done in past decades aiming to provide low-cost housing and studies the results of the study done by various authors and ultimately provides the future scope of their study. B.V.V. Reddy (2011) studied the suitability of manufactured sand as a fine aggregate material.

In this study, the characteristics of concrete and mortar using M-sand as fine aggregate were determined and compared with that of concrete with river sand. The mortar made with M-sand showed better engineering properties (compressive strength, better workability, bulk density, etc.) than river sand.

Housing is the major sector of urban infrastructure. The government of India has launched the scheme “Housing for All by 2022” for urban areas. To achieve this goal, the Government is providing subsidies to the urban poor up to Rs. 1 lakh per house which causes a huge burden on the country’s economy. Urban houses are not affordable to the poor due to escalating land & construction costs.

This scenario can be improved if the land or construction cost can be reduced to some extent without compromising the quality of the structure. Low-cost housing offers the use of various low-cost materials & techniques which reduces the overall cost of construction. In this paper, an attempt is made to review the various research on low-cost housing materials & techniques that can be used for both rural and urban areas according to their suitability in different conditions.

Also Read: Low-Cost Housing Solutions