Need to resolve housing for slum dwellers

Context: Under the impact of COVID, there is a need to resolve problems pertaining to housing for slum dwellers.

Impact of COVID on slum dwellers

• Disproportionately higher impact due to already deplorable health and environmental conditions (More than 50% cases recorded from slums in 12 major cities).
• Lack of physical distance due to high density for eg. Mumbai’s 56% population lives in slums.
• High density area causing Lung diseases due to absence of air and light.

Failure in solving housing crisis

• Slums are product of poverty and encroachments and also of lack of affordable housing and failed policies. (The Town Country Planning Act 1947 does not factor in urban poor, workmen and migrant labour) 
• Mindless densification: Resulted in high rises without open spaces and amenities.
• Misguided policy under JNNURM: Government policy subsidising houses in the far-off places with long distance travel

Need to look slum development through different prism

• Cost borne by the beneficiary model: bank loan and interest rate subsidy, and land is not charged (it being the costliest component), and the government bears the cost of basic amenities

• Avoiding Densification by reserving 50% area as open and complete solutions for mobilisation and supervision costs.

• Development through PPP: earmarking 10 % area for affordable housing; reducing workers travel time and compensation through zoning incentives.

• Incentives to the developer: impact fee waiver, density bonuses, lower parking requirement, fast track permission and zoning concessions.

Way Forward

• Change in the format of planning with wisdom and solidarity is needed to develop a fine print of urban slum development.