Journal of Housing and the Built Environment

, Volume 33, Issue 1, pp 175–195 | Cite as

Building regulations are a barrier to affordable housing in Indian cities: the case of Ahmedabad

Policy and Practice
First Online:
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Accepted:

Abstract

Cities in developing countries seldom consider the cost increases that regulations impose on development. To build legal housing, developers must meet a high minimum cost threshold established by mandatory standards. Many standards impose costs on building construction, make them less affordable to low-income households, deprive them access to legally built housing, and fuel the formation of slums. This study analyses the impact of relaxing a few mandatory building and site planning regulations on the cost of small two-room homes in Ahmedabad by developing two alternative layouts for the same site, one in accordance with prevalent regulations, and another after modifying a few regulations. It shows that rationalizing regulations can reduce housing cost by 34% and increase supply by as much as 75% without significantly lowering quality or compromising safety. It also shows that for a large portion of poor households, the costs imposed by mandatory standards are not trivial and have a high impact on the affordability of legally built housing. It recommends that if municipal authorities are interested in tackling the rapid growth of slums by expanding the supply of affordable housing, they should critically examine their building regulations and modify them to address the housing needs of their low-income residents.

Keywords

Affordable housing Ahmedabad, India Building regulation Housing affordability Slum formation 
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Notes

Acknowledgements

This study was initiated in 2012 at the request of the Mahila Housing Trust (MHT), promoted by the Self Employed Women’s Association (SEWA). SEWA is a renowned large NGO working to improve the economic and living conditions of women working in the informal sector. MHT’s primary objective is to improve housing delivery and infrastructure provision for its poor women members living in slums.

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Copyright information

© Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2017

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.CEPT UniversityAhmedabadIndia
  2. 2.Department of Political Science, 8052 Haley CenterAuburn UniversityAuburnUSA
  3. 3.AhmedabadIndia

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