On 14 December 2004, the City Nazim signed an agreement with a Saudi concern to develop housing units for low income groups. A massive investment of $100 million was also discussed for materialising the enterprize.

The top government functionaries were of the view that after the completion of this venture, housing problem for the low income groups will be greatly resolved in the city. It was assumed that similar projects in the future shall be effective in tackling the housing problems of the low income groups. These assumptions have fallen short of reality on the basis of past experiences.

Many research studies have proven this fact on several counts. There are several matters that must be considered while addressing housing for low income groups. The most significant lesson is the learning from retrospect in the domain of housing for poor.

In 1958, the then Federal Ministry of Resettlement and Rehabilitation with Karachi Improvement Trust prepared what came to be known as Greater Karachi Resettlement Plan.

The objective was to relocate poor refugees who were squatting in different locations in the city. Remote locations of Korangi and North Karachi were chosen to be developed into self-supporting satellite townships with fast moving community links to the city centre. In the first phase Korangi was chosen to be developed.

Its master plan comprised residential, commercial, industrial, institutional and infrastructural provisions. It was proposed to build 45,000 small scale houses for the lower income groups per year.

The project could not meet its targets. In all 10,000 houses could be constructed. The cost of developing completely built units was exorbitantly high which the government could not afford rate of default by the allottees was very high due to limited capacity of state institutions.

People experienced many inconveniences due to the remote location of Korangi. It involved huge commuting costs for the people who tried to settle in this scheme. All the necessary amenities such as schools, hospitals and shopping areas were not developed along side the resettlements.

The government and many state institutions repeated the same mistake of initiating built unit type housing as a solution for low income groups. In 1980s, Surjani Town was launched by KDA.

A sizable portion of this scheme was earmarked for low cost housing which was undertaken by Karachi Development Authority (now defunct) in collaboration with commercial developers. The cost of construction was marginally reduced by employing certain construction options.

However, the overall cost of a built house was still substantially high for a poor family which had extremely limited savings to contribute to house-purchase. Consequently, the middle class investors moved in and purchased many houses through their luck in the computer ballot.

The whole project was overtaken by speculators who did not have any interest in promoting occupancy. It gave rise to a dilemma that there were several genuine aspirants who were in dire need of housing but could not benefit from this option due to very weak financial base.

Similarly, Prime Minister's Housing Scheme launched with great fanfare during 1997-98 on a nation wide basis, offered housing choices that were way beyond the access of urban low income households. The overall scale of this housing venture was a miniscule in comparison to the total housing need.

Land is the most essential component in housing provision for low income households. Experience has shown that whenever a carefully developed approach for land supply is applied, urban poor/low income households benefit from its existence.

In the formal sector, the Incremental Housing Development concept tested in Khuda Ki Basti Schemes in Hyderabad, Gharo and Karachi have yielded results. They await the response of the government to have a broader outreach.

In the informal sector, phenomenal rise of squatter settlements through illegal land sub-division is another approach that reached the poor and lower income groups on a vast scale. One cannot deny the fact that katchi abadies provided a housing option to the needy at a cost that they could afford.

Land supply for housing requires a targeted approach to reach out to the beneficiaries. When the government aims to benefit the real poor, only an unconventional approach can deliver. One has to identify the needy groups through social research; test their scale of need and facilitate access to land and housing with bearable conditions.

Research has adequately proven the fact that low income groups are enterprising in nature. Once they receive basic support, they work hard to acquire the remaining components without relying on entrepreneurial approaches.

It is disappointing to note that no lesson is learnt from the experiences in the past. Each time a failed approach is picked up and re-applied with cosmetic rendering. For example, it was assumed that by launching large scale land supply scheme, housing problem for low income groups would be solved.

Many schemes were prepared around this untested assumption. Metroville schemes in 1970s, Shah Latif Town and several others were launched on a fairly large scale. All of them met with the same fate.

They were acquired by land speculators and investors who had no interest in immediate occupancy. They allowed the land to remain idle for a very long period. When the peripheral development and overall rise in real estate market created a price hike, the held-up land was freely traded in the market with no benefit to the low income groups. Many recent schemes launched by the government met with the same results.

It shall be appropriate if few pertinent lessons are seriously considered before launching any policy package or housing project for the low income groups. The access to land is the most crucial issue for urban poor.

This is due to the reason that land is now a tradable commodity which does not relate to any subsidy. If the state institutions, including the City District Government (CDGK) is able to facilitate this service, the needy shall truly benefit.

There are many pilot scale models such as Incremental Housing Scheme that may be thoroughly reviewed for application. And apparently no foreign aid or investment will be needed since all of them are very low budget low scale approaches. It, however, shall require a political will to on the part of the government to sincerely follow the correct policy line.