India: Housing For Low-Income Urban Households

Introduction:

Housing, particularly for low income urban households, is a long-standing challenge in India. In 2012, 96 percent of  India’s urban housing shortage of 18.78 million was confined to low-income economic groups. This study empirically examines three facets of urban India’s housing demand using the latest available nationally representative household data on housing conditions. First, we estimate the urban housing shortage.

Employing a methodology similar to that used by the Technical Group for the Twelfth Five-Year Plan (TG12) based on households that are physically inadequately housed, we find the shortage to be 29 million in 2018. However, the much-needed and sustained policy focus on slum housing, which is not restricted to physically inadequate slum houses, warrants a broader approach to estimating housing shortage. Employing a broader approach, we estimate the upper bound of urban housing shortage to be 50 million. We find more than 99 per cent of the shortage has been confined to low-income economic groups in 2018.

Urban Households living in inadequate houses and housing shortage:

The core goal of housing policies worldwide is to ensure access to adequate housing for inadequately housed households. What constitutes an adequate house is based on housing characteristics as well as characteristics of the household occupying the house, and varies across countries, communities and agencies defining them. The right to adequate housing is recognised as a part of the right to an adequate standard of living by the United Nations (UN 1948, 1966). Ideally, an adequate house is one which provides a household with security of tenure and protection from forced eviction, access to basic services while being affordable for the household.

Inclusion of slum housing in the estimate of inadequately housed urban households:

Slum housing in the estimate of inadequately housed urban  households is based on its treatment in India’s urban housing policy. The rehabilitation of slum households, in situ redevelopment and in situ upgradation of slum houses, and conferment of property rights for slum houses form the cornerstone of India’s urban housing policy framework. For instance, the latest national urban housing missions – Rajiv Awas Yojana which envisions the creation of ‘slum free cities’ and the PMAY U’s in situ Slum Redevelopment, vertical are apt examples. Earlier, the national level BSUP scheme and the Integrated Housing and Slum Development Programme (IHSDP) under JNNURM, as well as the city level slum rehabilitation schemes (SRS) of Mumbai and Ahmedabad adopted similar strategies.

Inadequately housed urban households in non-slum areas:

A household living in a physically inadequate house in non-slum areas has been considered inadequately housed. A physically inadequate house is one which is either obsolete or unserviceable katcha or congested for the household. The first step in estimating the number of inadequately housed urban households in non-slum areas is computing the obsolescence and congestion factors.

Obsolescence factor:

The estimation of the number of ‘inadequate houses’ is based on relevant ratios calculated using household level data of the latest (76th round) NSSO sample survey of drinking water, sanitation and housing conditions for the year 2018. Data on the age and condition of the house is captured through categorical responses. The age of houses has been captured in 11 brackets, 12 with the highest age bracket being 60 years or more.

Congestion factor:

Households where married couples do not have a separate room are considered as households living in congested conditions, following TG 12 and TG 11. About 20 per cent of non-slum households were living in congested conditions in 2018. Of this, about 0.8 per cent of households also lived in obsolete houses. So, to avoid double counting, we consider 19.2 per cent of non-slum households to be living in congested conditions net of obsolescence, in non-slum areas.

Unserviceable katcha houses:

Unserviceable kutcha houses are houses that cannot be upgraded and should be replaced. Such houses were not restricted only to slum areas, although only 0.1 per cent of non-slum households lived in unserviceable katcha houses.

Conclusion:

Housing woes continue to plague a significant portion of urban households. The maximum number of urban households estimated to be living in inadequate houses in 2018 is 47.3 million (41 per cent of urban households). It is estimated that 26.5 million (24 per cent) of urban households live in slums, 20.5 million (23.2 per cent) of non-slum households live in physically inadequate houses and 0.3 million households are homeless.

Unaffordable housing prices and rents, coupled with unresponsive supply in the formal housing market, are most often cited as the key factors behind the unabated increase in the number of urban households living in physically inadequate housing and in slums. Policies since independence have taken note of this phenomenon plaguing EWS and LIG urban households.

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