Slum Redevelopment 

The Government of Maharashtra has given a go-ahead for the Dharavi Slum Redevelopment Project in Mumbai. Dharavi has often been referred to as the ‘largest slum’ in Asia. 


What is a slum? 

The word ‘slum’ is often used to describe informal settlements within cities that have inadequate housing and squalid, miserable living conditions. They are often overcrowded, with many people crammed into very small living spaces. UN-HABITAT defines a slum household as a group of individuals living under the same roof in an urban area who lack one or more of the following: Durable housing of a permanent nature that protects against extreme climate, Sufficient living space, which means not more than three people sharing the same room. Easy access to safe water in sufficient amounts at an affordable price,  Access to adequate sanitation in the form of a private or public toilet shared by a reasonable number of people. Slums seem to be an integral part of India’s urban landscape. Slums are symptomatic of several deficiencies like lack of urban planning, lack of capacity of local bodies, uncontrolled urbanization, unchecked migration, etc. Slums have often been criticized as breeding grounds for crime. 

Reasons for the growth of slums in India:

First, Uneven development in different parts of the country leads to migration to a few urban centers causing the pressure on the population on their infrastructure. 
Second, the Rapid growth of population and poverty force poor people to live in slums leading to their expansion. Scarcity of land amidst rising population and demand forcing people to live in congested communities.
Third, High prices of land and high rent in urban areas create dearth of affordable housing forcing people to move to slums. Moreover prevalence of black money in the real estate sector inflates prices and rents.
Fourth, lack of urban planning is a major factor in the development of slums. City development plans fail to take into account the future expansion of cities. Corruption in local bodies leads to delays in development projects related to housing.
Fifth, some experts cite a lack of political will towards slum redevelopment as slum becomes contesting grounds of politics. Many slum redevelopment projects are caught in politics as favoring big real estate developers or encroaching on rights of the poor. 

Issues associated with Slums: 

• Inadequate Provision of Necessary Amenities ➔ Slums lack basic amenities like access to clean
drinking water, sanitation, waste collection systems, sewerage, and electricity. There is also lack of schools and hospitals leading to neglect of both education and health.
• Overcrowding and High Density ➔ Overcrowding has been linked to low space per person, high occupancy rates, different families living together, and a lot of one-room units. Most slum units are too crowded, with five to six people or more living, cooking, and sleeping in a single room.
• Substandard Housing/Illegal and Inadequate Building Structures ➔ Slum areas have a high number of substandard housing structures (non-compliant with building standards), often built with non-permanent materials unsuitable for housing given local conditions of climate and location. Many structures are unsafe for habitation. 
• Unhealthy Living Conditions and Hazardous Locations ➔ Lack of basic amenities like clean drinking water, sewerage, waste collection, etc. lead to unhealthy and hazardous living conditions. Many slums are adjacent to industrial plants and the residents are exposed to hazardous fumes/chemicals/waste. There is high prevalence of disease, especially malaria/cholera/typhoid.
• Insecure Tenure ➔ Slum-dwellers lack ownership title to the land they reside. They are under perennial risk of evacuation including harassment by land mafia.
• Poverty and Social Exclusion ➔ Slums are considered as social exclusion areas that are often perceived to have high levels of crime and other social dislocation measures. They are also associated with illegal migrants, internally displaced persons, and ethnic minorities. This also gives rise to a vicious cycle of poverty; poverty becomes both reason and outcome of slums.
• Vulnerability of Weaker Sections ➔ Slum-dwelling women and children are at a higher risk of falling victim to social ills such as prostitution, beggary, and trafficking.
• Other Socioeconomic Issues ➔ Issues like high rates of infant mortality, child marriage, and child labor plague the slums. Hunger, malnutrition, and a lack of quality education are also widely prevalent.


Challenges in Slum Redevelopment: 

• Demand side:

• Unmet Demand ➔ The Government of India reports there is a shortage of about 19 million homes in urban India, 56% of which are from Economically Weaker Section (EWS) households with monthly incomes less than INR 25,000.
• Limited Access to Financial Resources ➔ The urban poor lack access to formal financial resources to help them purchase new homes or maintain a new life in a new housing unit even when subsidy is provided by the Government under Rehabilitation schemes. Housing Finance Companies are reluctant to serve the urban poor due to perceived risks (lack of data to assess risk of poor clients). 

Supply Side:

• Lack of available urban land ➔ According to UN-HABITAT, 675 million Indians (~43%) will reside in urban areas by 2035. Land is in high demand due to urbanisation. Stringent control over land development generates an artificial urban land shortage, leading to urban sprawl and corruption in land licensing. Lack of transparent land transaction records also add up the search time and costs for developers. Additionally, a lot of non-marketable state-owned entities are located in the heart of cities, further limiting the amount of available land for housing.
• Rising Construction Costs ➔ Over the last decade, construction costs have risen by almost 80%. With rising material and labor costs, private developers may be unable to supply inexpensive housing to the market on their own.
• Regulatory Constraints ➔ Development projects in urban areas are subject to a long approval process regarding different aspects from both State and Central level, which brings about postponement in tasks.
• Litigation ➔ The nature of informal settlements leads to complicated and disputed land rights, leading to litigation and delays. In addition, entities opposed to redevelopment projects also resort to litigation e.g., a PIL has already been filed against Dharavi Slum Redevelopment Plan, arguing it will impact Mahim Nature Park, a protected area.
• Illegal subletting ➔ According to Slum Rehabilitation Agency (SRA), many redeveloped units are illegally subleased. In the long run, this is counterproductive to the goal of creating slum-free cities.
• Environmental sustainability ➔ There are concerns among urban planners about adding additional housing on already over constrained municipal systems. Without investing in adding capacity to existing civic infrastructure for the city, such policies could put an undue burden on the city’s civic amenities, in particular, utilities directly provided to households, such as water and electricity.


What are the possible solutions to the issue of slums? 

Well, There cannot be a single solution to this issue.. There should be a multi pronged approach to it. A report by the National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA) has made several suggestions for sustainable Slum Redevelopment. They are as follows: 
• Administrative Sustainability ➔ One-size-fit-all model may not work at a pan-India level. There is a need to adjust slum redevelopment models according to the local needs. There is a need to examine demand (growth) and supply (density), as well as financial incentives. Financial incentives, Floor Space Index (FSI) and Transferable Developmental Rights should be customized according to local conditions.
• Decentralized Systems ➔ It is associated with decentralised infrastructure for sanitation and energy amenities. Municipalities have typically centralised public services. Slums lack access to essential services due to high investment costs, a lack of resources to meet development and demand, and low-income groups’ refusal to pay taxes and fees. Decentralized systems have the ability to alleviate these challenges since they are more cost efficient.
• Financial Sustainability ➔ Giving out free housing to slum households under a slum redevelopment scheme (SRS) results in issues of illegal subletting, illegal sales of housing, and people returning to slums. To address this, there should be stringent measures to prevent sub-letting. Financial support should be provided to poor families in order to pay for the cost of the house.
• Micro financing ➔ Scaling up micro-finance is more effective in delivering housing funds for the urban poor.

My opinion:

Ensuring sustainable urbanization should be the top policy priority in the coming decade. Eliminating slums will be a crucial aspect in sustainable urbanization. In this context, the focus has to be on prevention of creation of further slums as well as slum redevelopment to develop existing slums.