ABSTRACT

This chapter analyses and describes the housing provisioning system in Indian cities, particularly for the working poor prior to the 1990s, and demonstrates how informal settlements and auto-construction have emerged as key strategies for the poor. The key difference between these two moments of policy formulation is that while the onus for providing housing was on the public sector in the immediate post-independence period, it has now shifted to the private sector, and public private partnerships (PPPs) are seen as the principal instruments. The Slum Redevelopment Scheme (SRS) is considered a successful PPP in the housing sector in India. It has involved the private sector in the construction of rehabilitation tenements for slum or basti dwellers in Mumbai. The chapter argues that the SRS is a mode of financialisation of informal housing markets and has altered the relations between various actors in the housing provisioning system with grave implications for access to housing for the poor.