Slums proliferate when the need for affordable and adequate housing remains unmet. People who are not able to access housing somehow find a shelter, which in most cases are informal settlements where basic services such as electricity, running water, or sanitation remain deficient.
The World Resources Institute’s latest report (released on July 12) titled ‘Crisis in the Global South: Adequate, Secure and Affordable Housing’ estimates the global affordable housing gap to be 330 million urban households. It forecasts this number to grow by more than 30% by 2025 to 440 million households or 1.6 billion people.
Unequal cities
The report says many cities have attempted to address the problem by relocating slums to the periphery. This approach is flawed, as it leads to more problems. People get severed from social networks and employment opportunities and lead to creation of ‘unequal cities’.
The slums or what the report describes as ‘informal housing sector’ is large and diverse. The problem is acute in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. Quoting UN-Habitat data, it says while in India 24% of the urban population (or 99 million people) lives in urban slums, in China 25% (or 191 million people) inhabit these informal shelters. However, there is a silver lining. The proportion of the urban population living in slums in developing regions decreased between 1990 and 2014, but the absolute number of slum dwellers rose by 28% over the same period.
Definition of ‘slum’
The United Nations defines slum population as the “Proportion of people living in households lacking at least one of the following five housing conditions: access to improved water; access to improved sanitation facilities; sufficient living area (not overcrowded); durable housing; and security of tenure.”
In situ upgradation
The report points out that the challenge of adequate, secure, and affordable housing within and around the city is essential to enhancing equity, economic productivity, and environmental sustainability of the city. In this context, it recommends giving up the ‘slum clearance’ or relocation of slums approach as it leads to cutting off the underprivileged people from livelihood opportunities and gentrification of cities which in essence leads to social inequity. Instead, it proposes in situ upgradation of these informal settlements. It says unless there are environmental, safety or strong public purposes concern, the slums should never be relocated.
Pune shows the way
Pune’s in situ upgrading of slums comes in for praise. The report says participatory slum upgrading is possible, effective, and financially feasible. This project aimed to build a total of 4,000 unitsand upgrade 1,099 houses in their original location, with financing from national and state governments, municipalities, and participants. The project was implemented by NGOs in close collaboration with communities that were involved throughout the project in surveying, financing, design, and construction.
The community contributed to design selection and incorporated key elements of quality of space, energy efficiency, and flexibility. Lastly, the project provided participants with secure tenure — a claim to dwellings in which they had lived for decades — which enabled them to upgrade their homes. Pune was a success because civil society groups worked in tandem with government agencies that could complement their capacity within a shared vision.
Lump sum rentals
Secondly, finding most housing policies biased in favour of ownership, the report suggests that governments should explore a wide range of rental possibilities in both formal and informal sectors. Financial bias towards ownership works against equity. To meet increased housing demands, cities can support rental housing for tenants of different income levels by creating formal rental policies, improving legal frameworks to support the rights of both tenants and landlords, and incentivise home affordable rentals which can even include lump sum rentals and cooperative housing.
Thirdly, it proposes converting underutilised land and buildings into affordable housing. Instead of pushing the poor out, cities should incentivise the conversion of underutilised, well-located urban land into affordable housing development.
Even incremental housing improvements and construction can be of help in this regard. It even recommends that underutilised land and buildings be taxed at higher rates than more productive spaces.
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