Role of Private Sector in Providing Affordable Housing in Lahore

Abstract

Shortage of affordable housing has become a global issue. The governments in developed and developing countries have initiated various programmes but those have proved inadequate to meet the growing demand of affordable housing. Pakistani metropolitan cities are also facing this issue. Lahore is the second largest city of Pakistan and is an administrative, business, education and recreational hub of the Punjab province. The rapid growth of population has created huge demand for housing in the city. In addition to the Lahore Development Authority (LDA), the principal planning agency in Lahore, the private sector has also been contributing towards housing supply through development of housing schemes. This research mainly attempts to explore how far the small plots/houses in such schemes are affordable to low income people and how many of such plots/houses have actually been occupied by them? The methodology includes: analysis of data on approved private housing schemes, views of the LDA officials, private developers and the residents of selected private housing schemes. The analysis confirms that the small sized plots in private housing schemes are occupied by the high and middle income groups. The housing has become severally unaffordable for the low income people. The government is falling short of providing adequate incentives to the private sector for delivering affordable housing to the low income groups. The study identifies several measures to improve the situation.