Master of Urban Housing at CEPT University, Ahmedabad Offline Course

Urban housing, apart from being a shelter, is seen as means of access to employment and livelihood, urban and community services, proximity to desirable neighbours. Majority of urban housing is supplied by the market where land and finance play a major role. Access to decent housing that is affordable for all is key to a habitable city. However cities across the developed and developing countries are grappling with varying degrees of housing unaffordability as per the specifics of local land and labour markets. Policy making and planning to ensure access to decent affordable housing for all income groups is a complex process and requires multi-pronged approach. It requires framing of policies and regulations that will enable local markets to generate adequate, affordable and decent housing stock. At the same time it requires framing of policies, programs and regulations that will provide assistance to households, living in substandard housing not catered to by the formal markets, to access decent affordable housing. It is only when such a multipronged approach is adopted, that cities will be able to efficiently address the issue of housing unaffordability in their specific land and labour market.