This paper attempts to describe the need and demand of housing in Pakistan, different housing policies adopted in their political and economic scenario of the country. Then, the reasons of the failure of the housing policies are analyzed. When the housing policies of the formal sector failed, the informal sector stepped in to provide housing for the urban poor. This paper also reviews informal housing strategies and experiments of combining formal & informal housing strategies.

The total population of country is not distributed among its provinces proportionate to their land areas. The province of Baluchistan has 44% of total land area of Pakistan; but its population is only 5% of total population of the country. On the other hand, Punjab has 26% of land area but it contains 56% of total population

The urban population of Pakistan is increasing at the rate of 4.8% a year. Between 1972 and 1981, the urban population of Pakistan has increased from 25% of Pakistan’s total population to 28% and is projected to be 40% by the year 2005″. The urban population of Pakistan in 1992 was 32% of the total population. This urban population is concentrated in a few urban centres. Over 42% of this population lives in four major cities namely Karachi, Lahore. Faisalabad, and Rawalpindi-Islamabad, nearly half of which is concentrated in the largest city of Karachi.