Housing is an arduous problem across the world, especially in developing countries like India. Apart from being one of the three basic necessities of life, adequate housing helps to prevent diseases, injury, and death provides security, and increases household and national income. It has become a top priority of the government and the society at large to address this issue. This is particularly severe in cities because, by 2025, more than 50% of the population is expected to reside in urban settlements in search of stability and income. This would lead to a shortage of 25 Million housing units – 99% of it being in the Economically Weaker Section and the Low Income Housing space. Through this study, we intend to find viable solutions to address this growing problem of low-cost urban housing in India.

This article aims to study the urban housing problem in India and provide a viable solution to overcome this. It tries to identify the main reasons for the inadequacy of low-cost housing units and why the government and private sector have failed to address this issue. The article analyses the business model of an NGO, “Habitat for Humanity India” to identify the different stakeholders and their roles and responsibilities. Based on the learning gained, the article tries to propose a scalable and sustainable model to alleviate this growing problem.