The Reality of Housing in Pakistan
The essay explores how housing, especially for low-income groups, is created in Pakistan and suggests policy directions for improvement. Housing issues are analyzed through two main lenses: the self-built housing of low-income residents and the emerging elite housing colonies.
1. Low-Income Housing Development
Low-income housing in Pakistan is largely self-built, often on government or encroached private land, with minimal formal government support. Residents rely on incremental construction using personal savings, loans, or selling assets. Though this housing provides shelter, it suffers from poor construction, inadequate infrastructure, legal uncertainty, and limited services. Around 40% of urban housing in Pakistan has been developed this way, including a sharp increase in cities like Karachi between the 1998 and 2017 censuses.
In addition, densification has become a significant trend. Existing settlements, particularly in katchi abadis (informal settlements), undergo vertical growth as families expand or as informal developers build multi-story apartment blocks. High-density living near city centers is preferred due to costly and time-consuming commutes from peripheral areas. However, this growth is often substandard, exacerbates the urban heat island effect, and highlights the stark inequality between low-income settlements (with densities reaching up to 3,000 persons per hectare) and elite enclaves (as low as 80 persons per hectare).
The development of low-income settlements has also been pushed further to the outskirts of cities due to the real estate boom. This shift increases the financial and transport burdens on the urban poor. Meanwhile, improved access to motorcycles has enabled low-income housing growth in nearby villages and small road towns, utilizing agricultural water and resources for urban purposes.
2. Housing Challenges and Policy Recommendations
The essay identifies key challenges in housing development—social disparities, land mismanagement, and speculative property markets—and suggests actionable solutions:
- Retrofitting Existing Housing: Introduce low-cost measures to improve ventilation, natural lighting, weather insulation, and water management in self-built homes. Promote extension programs to support informal developers with building technologies and prevent land speculation.
- Structured Densification: Develop regulated “ground-plus-three” housing models for informal developers to construct and market. Provide training, construction advice, and supervision support via local government units or NGOs.
- Property Taxation to Discourage Speculation: Impose a 10% annual non-utilization fee on vacant properties. The proceeds should be used to improve infrastructure within settlements.
- Regulating Land Density: Enforce housing schemes to maintain densities between 700 and 1,000 persons per hectare and limit individual ownership of urban residential land to 500 square meters. This would save land, address housing shortages, and curb speculative buying.
To implement these solutions, research is needed to understand the housing production ecosystem—its actors, dynamics, and economic constraints.
3. The Rise of Elite Housing Colonies
Parallel to low-income housing, the real estate boom has driven the development of elite colonies and gated societies, particularly in Punjab, Sindh, and other urban centers. These colonies, promoted for their security features, offer modern amenities and self-contained infrastructure. However, their expansion raises significant concerns:
- Loss of Agricultural Land: Large-scale land acquisition displaces villages, destroys orchards, and reduces exports, as seen in Multan’s mango orchards.
- Social Segregation: Colonies create physical and social divides between income groups, weakening social and political cohesion.
- Coercion and Unemployment: Land acquisition often involves coercion, leading to displacement and loss of livelihoods for rural communities.
Even smaller apartment complexes have adopted similar gated security systems, reinforcing segregation. With extremely low densities, these colonies represent inefficient land use and deepen housing inequities.
Conclusion
The essay highlights the sharp divide in Pakistan’s housing sector: low-income, self-built housing contrasts with elite, gated colonies. While the former struggles with poor infrastructure and densification, the latter exacerbates social divides and causes economic losses through land mismanagement. A balanced approach focusing on retrofitting existing housing, regulating densification, and curbing speculation can provide sustainable solutions for urban housing in Pakistan. To succeed, policymakers must prioritize research on housing dynamics and implement reforms that address the diverse needs of urban populations.
Farther reading: Community Wellbeing in Cities through the Sustainable Affordable Housing
Pakistan Real Estate 2023: Big Changes Are Coming – Buy or Sell properties in DHA, DHA City, and Bahria Town
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