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THEME PAPER
promotes local economic sites and services schemes The 7.36 million housing units
development when dwellings have shown that incremental sanctioned with a committed
are used for income generating housing can reach densities subsidy of Rs.150 thousand
activities, including creating a comparable to medium-rise per unit between 2015 and
stock of rental housing for low housing over a period of time 2022 under BLC, though
and middle income families (Owens et al, 2018). numerically impressive,
and migrants. forms only a small proportion
Self-built housing is of the efforts of people in
Self-building and home tailor made to household building for themselves.
improvement support the requirements and is But what is significant here
local construction industry responsive to the affordability is that it is for the first time
that provides a significant of even the poorest that such numbers have been
source of employment to households and fulfils the reached by a public housing
informal sector workforce need for the supply of low- programme. It is even more
such as masons, carpenters, income housing. However, significant that BLC amounts
plumbers, casual labour there are downsides to this to more than 60% of all units
and material suppliers. It’s building process: Very often sanctioned under PMAY-U .
1
employment potential is incremental self-building It has shown greater traction
well-recognised and was results in very poor-quality over mass housing supply by
the basis for the inclusion housing stock that ignores public and private institutions
of the Scheme for Housing critical aspects of health in the other verticals offered
and Shelter Upgradation and safety; and the building by the scheme (in-situ slum
(SHASU) in slum areas as a process, even though low redevelopment, affordable
component of Nehru Rojgar in cost, is not always good housing in partnership,
Yojana (NRY), a scheme of value for money. This is credit-linked subsidy scheme
the Government of India especially a matter of concern and affordable rental housing
implemented between 1989 in cities where rising land complexes). Its comparative
and 1997 to support income values have prompted low- popularity stems from
generation of the urban poor income dwellers to build the flexibility it offers to
(Government of India, 1998). vertically. On the other hand, beneficiaries and indicates
a key facilitating factor for
On an average more than investment is security of land the huge demand for financial
sixty-two percent of the tenure, which is not available assistance in the self-build
urban housing stock of 110.14 to a vast number of the sector. It has emerged as a
million in India is self-built urban poor. And many poor preferred option for public
(Government of India, 2013; families are unable to build institutions because it creates
Das, 2018), with higher rates beyond a rudimentary shelter the least responsibility
in small and medium towns. because they do not have and liability for them to
Incremental housing takes access to affordable finance. achieve numerical targets
place in urban slums, sites and Finally, much of the stock (Roychoudhury et al, 2020).
services projects, relocation of self-built housing is in It is free from complexities of
areas, unauthorised colonies, informal settlements, which supply-side projects such as
peri-urban areas and urban lack basic services and social land assembly, negotiations
villages. Recent studies of infrastructure. with private builders,
building and quality control
of medium and high-rise
1 (https://pmay-urban.gov.in/uploads/progress-pdfs/630c79cb23ad0-PMAY-U_
Achievement_for-WEB-29082022.pdf) structures.
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