Challenges in Integrating Sustainability into Affordable Housing:
The main aim of Affordable & Sustainable housing is to meet the growing housing needs of the people belonging to a larger community by providing them with better social, economic & physical conditions and also at the same time minimizing the lifecycle environmental impacts of the housing in the long run. Both Affordable & Sustainable housing are not compatible in general. This particular study will analyze the various challenges and opportunities in planning. designing & implementing such a composite housing system in an Indian scenario.
It is learned that the major obstructions or impediments in integrating affordability & sustainability in India’s housing sector are; inadequacies in the existing regulatory framework, and the perceived notion that incorporating sustainability implies additional costs. This study finally concludes by providing key suggestions for implementing the concept of affordable & sustainable housing in India, such as framing favorable & clear-cut policies and also strengthening the supply chains of sustainable materials.
In various countries & places where a majority of the population cannot afford to buy homes at the prevailing present market rates, the government has to bear the responsibility of providing decent shelter & ensuring adequate living conditions for all its citizens or people. In this context, projects that constitute low-cost housing, social housing, or affordable housing have already been developed by various countries. In a country like India with a rapidly growing population, and burgeoning housing demand such schemes are extremely important.
However, facilitating and fulfilling the large-scale demand for such affordable housing and also promoting it through favorable policies and schemes would concurrently create an exponential adverse impact on the environment in terms of depletion of natural resources, soil erosion, and climate change. Therefore, it is also important to consider and incorporate energy and sustainability-related aspects into the affordable housing rules and regulations. In recent times, the interests of governments and corporate stakeholders in sustainable housing have increased manifold because globally, issues such as addressing climate change and sustainable infrastructure development are getting increased attention.
On a global scale, buildings consume tremendous energy and resources in both the construction and operation phases, and especially the construction sector in India accounts for about 24 percent of its total greenhouse gas emissions (GHG). This reinforces the need for integrating sustainability into affordable housing projects, to maintain the required balance between social needs of the present, and the needs of the future generations to sustain in the urban environments. Therefore, this study is aimed at investigating the current scenario of this sector on a global scale, followed by summarizing the challenges and opportunities existing in realizing sustainable and affordable housing projects in India.
The concept of green and affordable housing has gained importance since the early 2000s in the US with policies and regulations favoring it. Washington D.C. was the first state in the US that framed specific legislation for ‘Green Affordable housing’ with the Evergreen Sustainable Development Standard (ESDS). Similarly, a sustainable development agenda is being promoted in the social housing sector in countries such as the UK, New Zealand, and China. In India, IGBC (Indian Green Building Council) has launched the green affordable housing rating system to ensure a high degree of sustainability with no or minimal additional cost to the building developer or the occupant.
Though vast research is done in the area of environmentally sustainable buildings, it is not so prevalent in the affordable housing segment owing to the perception that sustainability and affordability are incompatible. The various challenges are identified through existing studies & reference material available in the literature review in this domain.
The preliminary investigations and literature review conducted across the globe reveal that ‘Inadequacies in the regulatory framework’ and “perceived notion that incorporating sustainability might lead to increased project costs” are the major & prime impediments to the implementation of sustainable and affordable housing. In India, government policies and schemes should include additional grants or incentives for ensuring sustainable practices in affordable housing projects. Innovative & dynamic business models that facilitate in promotion of sustainable techniques in social & affordable housing that involve higher initial investments should be promoted, by involving third-party investors who would lease these facilities in return for annual long-term payments or subsidies and tax benefits from the government.
Similarly, the focus should also be shifted towards strengthening the supply chain of sustainable materials thus making them easily accessible at lower costs. Above all, better construction practices to be adopted with a core focus on environmental sustainability should be encouraged in affordable housing projects with minimal impact on the project budgets.