The affordable housing challenge plagues cities across India. Although city administrations have framed various strategies to tackle the issue, weak implementation, flawed policies, and an inherent lack of capacity to find long-term solutions have allowed slums to proliferate as an alternative.

This Report of the Committee deals with the action taken by the Government on the Observations/Recommendations of the Committee contained in the Eleventh Report (Seventeenth Lok Sabha) on the subject “Review of Performance of Pradhan Mantri Gramin Awaas Yojna (PMAY-G)” pertaining to the Ministry of Rural Development.

This paper was prepared as part of background research for the Economic and Social Survey for Asia and the Pacific 2022. The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of inclusive and resilient growth and the role of fiscal policy in ensuring a better outcome.

Drawing from primary data from a household survey of 1800 urban poor households that included landlord and tenants across Bhubaneswar, Coimbatore, and Cochin across slum or non-slum low income neighborhoods; the findings reveal poorer housing condition in slums than those living in non-slum areas.

That buildings should be well-ventilated is no rocket science.However, the current pandemic and revelation that SARS-CoV-2 can remain airborne for a considerable length of time has given this ancient awareness an urgent appeal.

The present report is based on the results of the State Sample of 76th National Sample Survey on ‘Drinking Water, Sanitation, Hygiene and Housing Condition’. This survey was carried out by this Directorate during July 2018 - December 2018. The survey on housing condition was aimed to portray several aspects of housing condition.

In view of the challenges and risks that the pandemic has exposed, the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) has carried out an on-ground investigation of selected mass housing schemes and redevelopment schemes to assess locational disadvantages and gaps in services and infrastructure.

Housing, particularly for low income urban households, is a long-standing challenge in India. In 2012, 96 per cent of the all India urban housing shortage of 18.78 million was confined to low-income economic groups.

Colombia faces a number of challenges including growing need for social housing in metropolitan areas driven by accelerating urbanisation associated with a growing electricity demand as well as increasing hydroelectric uncertainty as a result of changes in the el Niño weather phenomenon.