Reviewing the affordability and adequacy of affordable housing in urban India: Impact of the covid-19 pandemic

Reviewing the affordability and adequacy of affordable housing in urban India: Impact of the covid-19 pandemic Shagun Agarwal, Tribhuvan Pratap Singh, Deepak Bajaj Housing, Care and Support, Vol. ahead-of-print, No. ahead-of-print, pp.- Housing policies in India (last modified in 2017) define “affordable housing” on three main parameters – income of the target group, dwelling unit size and house price to income ratio. The Covid-19 pandemic has questioned the robustness of the defining parameters of affordable housing. This paper aims to study the impact of Covid-19 pandemic on housing affordability and adequacy for the urban poor and highlights how one pandemic has directly challenged the practicality of the affordable housing criteria in urban India.The study is based on a pilot test conducted through interviews with the consumer group. Furthermore, the affordable housing policies of urban India were studied in conjunction with the pandemic guidelines laid down by the World Health Organization. The consumer responses were analyzed in relation to the policies and guidelines to arrive at the inferences. The secondary case examples of the Dharavi slums in Mumbai and the Savda Ghevra slum resettlement colony in Delhi, along with the findings of the primary survey in the economically weaker section category, are used to formulate the conclusions.The pilot test conducted for the target consumer group clearly indicates that (i) the pandemic has severely affected the housing p...
Source: Housing, Care and Support - Category: International Medicine & Public Health Authors: Source Type: research