Gautam Bhan: Migrants are not unmarked bodies who only come to housing markets marked by demand and supply. They are part of deeply identifiable movements that are shaped in certain ways. So why don’t we learn from migrants how they built that housing and what we can do to make the process easier, smaller and better. I think it’s important that we don’t start seeing migrants as helpless, invisible, invisible. They are highly visible and intentionally invisible.
We cannot forge a way out of India’s housing shortage. No matter how well-intentioned the government is, we will never have the capacity to build on the scale we want. The largest stock of affordable housing in Indian cities is built by the people themselves, who are always under the stress of law and planning. But the major task is to say this: to protect, regulate, identify all the informal, inadequate rental housing that exists in all of our cities today. Start protecting and improving that habitat.
on the jurisdiction and responsibility of the government
Shreya Bhattacharya: The solution always seems to be a plan and it is a single housing plan. One of the key principles of housing policy should be decentralisation. It has to be allowed and empowered, not only at the state level, but also local governments, especially if you look at the Mexican, Brazilian or even Chinese examples, the way these problems are addressed. Come on, he’s not the one. One-size-fits-all program. This, in fact, creates regulation, which allows for much greater mobility.
On what is the state government going back?
Manikandan: The simple answer is the greater the level of difficulty in solving it. In rental accommodation, the user who is going to pay the rent is not going to directly participate in the process of supplying the accommodation or contribute financially to the process of obtaining the supply.
On understanding whether housing is just an urban problem
Shrayana: The first principle is highly empowered municipal governments, not this same scheme, PMAY, which operates in exactly the same way with similar benefit levels. The second is that the focus in India is very supply-driven. This land is around housing construction. Obviously, there are very serious and serious regulatory challenges surrounding this. The government probably needs to provide the employer with a basket of cash as well as insurance benefits. And the third would be the capability of the delivery system, not just an audit. If you’re on the go, you must have a system of Social Security that moves with you.
on resolving a complex issue
Bide: We need to think of a continuum. I hope that we will be able to create some facilities for women migrants – a very vulnerable group, which is often not recognized.
is a tripartite partnership, which can be formed between the state, agencies and employers. The role of the employer in this is huge. At the other end of the continuum, we need to look at how one can reduce housing uncertainty, as there are many housing conditions, which should not be accepted. We need to look at informal housing and start first. There is no issue of acquisition – the more you are able to upgrade living conditions in informal settlements, the better the conditions for rental housing. I hope it will also contribute to creating a basic floor below which the quality of housing will not go down. But if there are precarious housing conditions like this, one needs a velvet-glove approach, where the state comes up with regulatory policies but also with convenient policies. Our systems have macro details, but they don’t have a microscopic knowledge of how things work, whether things exist.
keynote speaker: Iqbal Singh Chahal, Commissioner, Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC)
Migrant workers are the backbone of the economy. They have an important role in the development of the country. The Government of Maharashtra had passed a very ambitious new housing policy in 2008, where the concept of rental housing was introduced for the first time. The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) was made the nodal agency for the entire MMR – eight-nine municipal corporations in and around Mumbai, including the MCGM (Municipal Corporation for Greater Mumbai), which has around 2.5 crores. population and beyond. One lakh migrant population. And this rental accommodation will be provided to the migrant laborers by charging some nominal monthly rent. Many developers came forward. So, right now, 42,000 houses are under construction, which can accommodate more than one lakh people. The 42,000 houses that are banned include major real estate players like Tata, Dosti Group, Symphony and Adhiraj. Any person who comes to Mumbai, instead of living in slums in an unauthorized manner, can be given this rented accommodation till he gets a suitable place. Then we came up with this very ambitious policy of housing reservation under which we will build a huge amount of rental housing in the next five years. This is something that can help the migrant labourers. I am sure this idea can be replicated in many big cities of India, where the local municipal authority does not spend anything other than the construction cost of that building.
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