Housing

DEFINE-
• Generally speaking, housing may be defined as an architectural unit for accommodation
in order to protect the occupants from the forces of nature. But in wider meaning housing
covers all the ancillary services and community facilities which are essential to human
well being. In addition to the physical structure, it includes water supply, sanitation, and
disposal of water, recreation and other basic amenities of life. Thus Housing can be
defined as a component architectural structure within a total system consisting of various
settlement variables. (source:economicsdiscussions.net)

• Food, clothing and shelter (housing) are the primary requirements of life. The availability
of these necessities in sufficient quantity and quality increases the physical efficiency and
productivity of the people. So housing is an important component of human resource
development.

Need of Housing –
• Housing is closely associated to the process of overall socio-economic development. It
provides shelter and raises the quality of life. It generates conditions which are congenial
to the achievement of social objectives such as health, sanitation and education. It
provides employment opportunities to the rural and urban people. Moreover it helps to
improve urban rural equality by narrowing down the difference in the standard of living.
Thus housing performs multiple functions including many social needs of the household
(source:economicsdiscussions.net)

• Housing has been globally valued for its role and importance as determinant of growth
and development of human beings, communities and nations. Being one of three basic
human necessities, UN has mandated for accepting the ‘Right to Adequate Housing’ as
the basic human right.

• Considering multiple connotations and criticality of housing as provider of identity,

security and determinant of quality of life besides promoting economy, generating
employment, leveraging industrialization and rationalizing growth and development of
human settlements, providing ‘Housing for All by 2022’, has been accepted by
Government of India as prime objective of National Housing Policy and Prime Minister
Awas Yojna, placing it high on the development/ welfare agenda of the nation.

• Covid19, has clearly demonstrated the vulnerability of cities and migrants in the face of
lockdown, when majority of urban migrant workforce, without having any shelter, had no
option but to leave cities to go back to their native places, despite all odds and hardships.
This clearly established the context, role and importance of shelter in not only rationalizing
growth and development of cities but also creating ownership among its citizens. It has also
clearly demonstrated the necessity of providing adequate housing to all the urban residents, if
the cities are to be made more sustainable and livable.

Source: Housing for All: World Urban Forum III 2006

 Types Of Housing In India (source:www.zricks.com)

India is a land of diverse cultures with different geographics and climate manifold. We have
different kind of communities with a multifaceted lifestyle which reflects in their houses. Each
house is different from the other in term so of architecture, look and build. This is also because
each serves a different aspect in accordance with the demographics, climate and the way locals
live in that particular area. The most common types of accommodation found in India are-
• Bungalows - Large homes used as a solitary family unit. These type of houses are family owned
and can be widely found in non-urban areas of India. Bungalows have slowly started taking over
the urban areas and people have started blending the architecture with modern amenities that
meet the urban lifestyle.

• Apartments and Flats - In an apartment building, each apartment has set of rooms for people to
live in. This is the most common type of accommodation people are preferring these days. These
are self-owned and controlled housing units in multi-storied buildings. These consists of
different types of units like a penthouse, basement suites, and studio flats.

• Penthouses - Penthouses are the top floor units in an apartment building while the lower ones are
called as. It has high ceilings and gets personal access to the terrace and epitomize the pinnacle
of high-end luxury living with breathtaking views all around.
• Studio Flats Studio Apartments is a newer concept which is gaining popularity
across the world. The little one with no separate bedrooms is called as studio
apartments and are quite rented by the young working individuals who wish to stay
in a little cozy space with all the amenities confluence together. The flat consists of
sections without any barrier of walls or divisions, wherein one could use the space as
bedroom and living room. There are no separate rooms.
• Villas - Villas have always been referred to the stylish upper-class state homes. The
size of villas ranges from a king size houses to ultra large houses with a private lawn,
gardens swimming pools and driveway. The more private built aspect of the villas is
what attracts the travelers for renting it over hotels, during their trips. Villas are
gaining popularity for the reason of it providing a space surrounded by rejuvenating
lush greenery.

• Condominiums / Housing Complexes / Societies - Each housing unit comes up in a

wide range of styles but the kind of ownership is what makes it different from other
types of accommodation.
• Farmhouses / Second homes - Farmhouses and vacations houses are located away
from urban crowd have also become a common feature to attract hi-end buyers.  In
case of such developments, home owners are responsible for creating all required
infrastructure on their own and hence often exposed to related risks.

• Huts - These are crude shelters mostly found in the rural part of the country. Huts
consists of mud wall that keeps it cool during summers. It is slowly evolving with the
features like a chimney on the roof to release the smoke during cooking.

• Eco-friendly Homes - Sustainable homes are more than just segregating your waste
but combining facets, right from building materials to the use of energy sources and
designs that strive for efficiency and harmony with the surrounding environment.
These houses pool sustainable implementations like multi-fuel burning stoves, water
recycling, efficient waste management and using renewable sources of energy.
 Limitations Faced By Housing In India

Despite critical role and importance, housing still remains a distant dream for millions of people.
UN Habitat Report on Right to Adequate Housing finds Millions around the world live in life or
health threatening conditions, in overcrowded slums and informal settlements and conditions
which do not uphold human rights and their dignity’.

The Limitations are imposed by- (source: HOUSING FOR ALL IN URBAN INDIA MYTHS AND REALITY
–Ar. Jit Kumar Gupta, economicsdiscussions.net)
• Cost of Construction- Ever rising cost of building materials, labor, transportation,
government levies, taxes and charges, high cost of borrowed money etc, has led to rapid
increase in cost of housing .
• Government charges- With parastatal and urban development authorities looking at urban
development as major revenue earner, large number of taxes, fees, charges, levies etc. are
imposed in terms of change of land use, layout/ building plan approvals, licensing, internal/
external development, registration of land / finished house, which make the housing
expensive.
• Construction Technologies- Conventional, obsolete, outdated time and cost-intensive
methods of construction, traditional project planning and management being deployed in the
construction of housing projects invariably lead to wastage, delay and increasing cost of
housing.
• Building Bye-Laws – Outdated and irrational building bye-laws, providing for low floor
area ratio/population density/height etc invariably lead to inefficient land utilization. Non-
use of cost- effective/state of art building materials and outdated construction technologies,
make housing expensive and unaffordable for urban majority.
• Socio-cultural Variables in Housing: The caste divide in Indian rural society mainly affects
the distribution of houses and also the quality of housing mainly in indian villages.
Generally houses of upper castes are situated in better areas while houses of lower castes
especially scheduled castes and some backward classes are situated in periphery of the
village. These peripheral regions are mostly low lying areas and unhygienic.
• Kinship and family structure are other variables which affect the quality and quantity of
housing. For example, there is shift from joint family system to nuclear families. This
tendency puts pressure on the available land for housing. In Punjab and Haryana this
pressure is visible. In Rajasthan where dispersed settlement pattern exists, this pressure may
not be felt so far. The household size is also important variable of housing quality and
quantity. Urban families are small in comparison to rural area. The land is more costly in
urban areas. So urban houses are small in size as compared to village houses. The
occupational pattern and tradition also affect the housing layout.Generally, housing structure
in rural areas use locally available building material, technology and man power except well
to do rural families. In urban areas, building materials used are of industrial origin and
durable.
Right to shelter—Unfortunately all beneficiaries believe that right to shelter includes right to
ownership, right to land and property. Accordingly, demand for creating housing on ownership
basis has emerged as the only option in the category of affordable housing. Creating ownership
has led to resale, transfer of housing to speculators and multiplicity of ownership, defeating the
very basic purpose of right to shelter

Mgnitude of problems in Housing:

(source:economicsdiscussions.net)

The magnitude of the problem of housing in India is quite wide. The problem has both
quantitative and qualitative dimensions. According to 1991 census, the housing shortage was
18.5 million dwelling units, out of which 13.7 million for rural areas and 4.8 million for urban
areas 41.6. % was living in pucca houses, 30.9% was living in semi-pucca houses and 27.5%
was living in kutcha houses.

The table indicates that rural housing shortage increased from 3.4 million in 1961 to 20.6
million in 2001. Urban housing shortage increased from 0.9 million units to 10.4 million units
during the same period. Thus total shortages of housing increased from 4.3 million to 31.0
million dwelling units. The rate of housing construction in the country is around 3 houses per
thousand populations per year as against the required rate of 5 houses per thousand populations.

Qualitative aspect of Housing Problem

• Qualitatively speaking the state of housing in India is miserable. About 80% houses in rural
areas do not have basic amenities like safe drinking water, bathroom, toilets etc. Ninth Five
year Plan has recorded the inter State variation in housing shortage. There is a large
concentration in a few States.
• For example Bihar accounted for one third of the housing scarcity followed by Andhra
Pradesh, Assam, U.P. and West Bengal. In 2000, about 48.7 million people were living in
urban slums in unhealthy conditions. According to Ninth Five-Year Plan, 18.77 million
houses are kutcha houses. They are thatched houses made of mud, straw and bamboos.
These are unable to face natural disaster like cyclone and flood etc.

Quantitative aspect of Housing Problem:

• Quantitatively speaking, there is acute shortage of housing in rural and urban areas in India.
Presently, there is shortage of 310 lakh houses in India. Out of which 206 lakh houses are in
rural area and 104 lakh houses in urban areas.
India will need 25 million more affordable housing units by 2030: RICS and
Knight Frank Report (source: report by HOUSING NEWS DESK @housing.com)
The report estimates that the current housing shortage in urban areas is around 10 million
units. Most of the housing shortage lies in the Economically Weaker Section (EWS) and
Lower Income Group (LIG) segment. It quotes that as of July 2019, 8.36 million houses
have been sanctioned under the ‘Housing for All by 2022’ initiative. Construction for 4.9
million units has begun and 2.6 million units of which have been completed. Given the
past trend, an additional 1.64 million houses are likely to be sanctioned by December
2019, making it highly possible to achieve the target of 10 million houses by 2022. The
projected subsidy disbursement over the next three years for the same, is projected to be
Rs 1 trillion.

Making Housing for all a Reality

• Unlocking Urban land supply- Cost of land constitutes,30-50 per cent of any
project cost in urban areas. This cost plays a major role in determining pricing and
affordability of residential units. All urban centres have large number of land parcels
which remain unoccupied or underused.
• Some of them may belong to government and could be released for development or
sold to buy land for affordable housing. Private land can be brought forward for
development through incentives such as density bonuses—increasing the permitted
floor space on a plot of land and, therefore, its value; in return, the developer must
provide land for affordable units.
• Government-owned land parcels within the specified areas for development for
housing for the urban poor and the informal sector, will drastically reduce the pricing
of the resultant housing units.
• Government may also launch schemes for creating ‘Land Bank’ in all the urban
areas, where available land can be pooled to be made available to agencies involved
in providing housing or to private sector on specified conditions. Supplementing this
land with all requisite approvals will make value addition to land and ensure supply
of affordable housing on fast track.
• Convergence- Development through convergence will be most appropriate and cost-
effective option to create affordable housing , a distinct reality. Housing for All and
Smart Cities mission can be easily synergised. Options of green field development
and redevelopment provided in the Smart City Mission can be appropriately
leveraged for creating housing stock in the affordable category.
• Existing slum area can be developed under the retro-fitting/brown field development
option. Converging one of the capsule of housing for shelter-less under the National
Urban Livelihood mission with PMAY can help in creating more affordable housing
stock in urban areas.
• Promoting strong Project and Cost Management- It would be both critical and
essential to increase speed and reduce cost of construction besides eliminating cost
overrun.
• For minimizing speculation and illegal sale of houses , suggestion has been made to
graduate from, ‘Right to ownership of Shelter to Right to Shelter’.
• Housing, largely remains a local problem and must be settled by the local agencies, which
would require empowering these agencies both economically and technically to achieve
the objective. Reviewing legal framework, adopting prefab construction, improving
construction technologies and promoting rental housing are the other options which are
suggested to improve housing conditions in India.
• Creating Multiple Options for Shelter - Instead of focusing only on creating ownership
houses; promoting multiple options of providing affordable shelter, needs to be considered
based on affordability, family size, shelter requirements, marital status, type of avocation,
skill, tenure etc. Night shelters, mobile housing, rental housing, bachelor/single
accommodation etc at various places should be used as options for augmenting shelter and
minimise quantum of formal and expensive housing.
• Using Peri- urban areas - Peri-urban areas with basic infrastructures, services and
transport should be permitted to be used for creating affordable housing due to lower
prevailing land cost.
• Promoting locally available building materials - Encouraging research and development
and promoting industries producing materials from industrial and agricultural waste would
not only increase the availability of cost-effective materials but also reduce depletion of
non-renewable resources used for creating conventional building materials.
Role of an architect in solving housing problem in India
• Large scale housing
Lack of space and worsening economic conditions lead to Every major Indian city today has
one or more slum areas developing a steady pace, causing issues in the overall city
management. Architects can be tasked with providing low-cost durable housing options to the
people of the lowest income groups so that the slum areas can be redeveloped keeping the
genuine interests of the existing occupants in mind, and not based on the decrees issued by the
authorities of the city.

• Redevelopment of urban infrastructure

Efficient and safe public transport, hygienic and safe waste disposal tactics, better civic
amenities, and a focus providing multi-functional space for the common public are some of the
more important points that architects can help incorporate in the future redevelopment plans of
our cities.

• Reduce the large-scale production of Greenhouse Gases (GHGs)

(Source: apiceuropa.com)
Architects need to take up the mantle to explain to their gentile clients the benefits of building
using indigenous materials and incorporating the use of vernacular design principles so that
their buildings can be more positively impactful on the health of its users and that of the earth.
• Design for inclusivity
Architects can use their design skills to create an environment that is not only sensitive and
inclusive but also creates awareness among the users as to the needs of each other. The
architectural design needs to be mindful and devise thoughtful inclusive measures for the
comfort and wellbeing of people.
• Creating and preserving the heritage
Architects need to use their knowledge of the past and their zeal for a better future to bring
back the lost character of culturally rich cities particularly in India, before the urge to
westernize robs them completely of their unique identity.

A beautiful comparison of Mumbai’s architectural development from the Rajabai

Tower to the BSE building (Source: frontline)
Project Name: Seikh Sarai Housing, New Delhi.

• Project Location: Sheikh Sarai, New Delhi,

India, Built 1982
• Area: 35 acres
• Density: 100 Aptmts / ha
• Total No. of Units: 550
• Architect: Raj Rewal

• TARGET AUDIENCE - Affordable Housing built for medium and low-income

Groups.
Built Fabric - Low-Rise High-density walk-up apartments, clustered to create internal shaded
streets linked by gateways and open courtyards for public use to resemble a traditional urban
settlement, and as an expression of style of the architect. The gateways, a common feature within
the project enabled high level of transparency despite being a high-density development
rendering it legible for the users.

Movement And Flow – Clear demarcation of vehicular and pedestrian streets, restricting the
vehicular flow to the peripheries with few access points along the road and enhancing pedestrian
flow along the central spine puncturing the built solids. This defined the parking spaces and flow
of traffic outside of the housing clusters.

Community Spaces – Fostering shared spaces for the community by creating intimate courtyards
connected to each other, representing the traditional elements of Indian Architecture.
Clusters & Units – Six different types of units ranging from 70-120 sq.m, organized in two
different clusters, 3 and 4 storey high. The units have several variations in type, from 1-3
bedroom apartments, although minor in each case, the need for economy and design is apparent
within the interior. The units are compact without any ambiguity of space that comes from having
greater floor areas to negotiate from. Despite the compactness of both units and clustering, every
room is well- ventilated and well-lit with an attached terrace for each unit.

Urban-scape at site level, the architect employed urban strategies of articulated flows, segregated
spaces and applied the same on the site level, resulting in a structured urban settlement.

Affordability -A new financial scheme was developed for this case which helped subsidize the
housing units for the users. In the Self-Financing-scheme, the allotters had to pay in 5
installments over the period of the construction phase. This allowed the housing authority to
create mix of units and make the project more economically viable.
The use of locally available material was intrinsic to the nature of project and to further bring
down the cost of the project. The structure comprised of concrete posts and beams with infill
brick walls covered with rough cast plaster. This gave the user the flexibility to modify as well.
PERIPHERAL ROAD NETWORK

SHARING COURTYARD

GARAGE
Inferences

• The peripheral roads are connected to parking squares.

• The central spine of the layout is reserved for narrow, shaded pedestrian pathways.
• The layout plan follows traditional methods of creating shade and cross ventilation
• The plan of Sheikh Sarai is based on narrow shaded streets linking variety of clusters .
• The streets are broken up into smaller units, so there are pauses, points of rest and
changing vistas
• Raj Rewal designed Sheikh Sarai as a series of clusters which are interrelated.
• The buildings are unified by means of similar façade treatment using sandstone grit render,
piercing of parapets, proportions of doors, deep set windows, and stone flanking walls for
the courtyard
• Private roof terraces and courtyards are an integral design component of housing for the
Sheikh Sarai Complex
Housing In Chandigarh

• Provision of good quality housing was central to Chandigarh’s planning objective of

offering
• Initially, two main categories of housing were planned in the city - public and
private. Subsidized rental public housing for government employees of all categories
was built by the government in the early years. In the case of private housing,
residential plots varying in size from 125 sq. yds. to 4000 sq. yds. were made
available at cost price to individual buyers for building their own houses.
GOVERNMENT HOUSING
• Government housing in the city was initially divided into 13 categories
ranging from house for the Chief Minister to the lowest paid class-IV
employee. Plot sizes for government housing ranged from 37.5 sq. yds. to
4000 sq. yds.
• Plot sizes for government housing ranged from 37.5 sq. yds. to 4000 sq. yds.
Most government houses in Phase I were single or double storeyed. Housing
in Phase II has much higher density with the largest plot size restricted to
1000 sq. yd. and a large part of it consisting of four storeyed flats.
• A lot of attention was given to making their design suitable for local climate within
severe economic constraints while using local building materials

AN ARCHED ENTRY TO CLUSTER LOWER CATEGORY SINGLE STOREYED

A HOUSING. EACH HOUSE HAS COURTYARD IN THE
GOVERNMENT FRONT AND REAR OF THE HOUSE
HOUSING
 Institutional Housing
• In addition to government housing, institutional housing has been built by parastatal
and/or autonomous bodies such as Panjab University, PGI, IMTACH, CSIO, defence
establishments and Survey of India, for their employees. In the early years, 620
housing units for industrial workers were also built by the government in sectors 29
and 30

HOUSES BUILT BY THE CHANDIGARH HOUSING BOARD

• The mandate of Chandigarh Housing Board (CHB) is to build affordable, reasonably
priced dwelling units for different socio- economic categories of the city’s residents.
• Chandigarh Housing Board has also constructed houses for the poor under schemes like
Valmiki Ambedkar Awas Yojna (VAMBAY) and more recently under Jawahar Lal
Nehru Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM).

CHANDIGARH HOUSING BOARD HOUSING

CHANDIGARH POLICE HOUSING SOCIETY

Housing in chandigarh
PRIVATE HOUSING
Nearly one - third of the private plots have an area of one kanal or above.

CO-OP HOUSING SOCIETIES

Various Co-operative Housing Societies and Chandigarh Housing Board have been
allotted land in these sectorsfor construction of HIG, MIG, LIG and EWS flats