Amid surging demand for a long-term housing policy for low-income groups, the government is developing a revised framework to scale up outreach for the Prime Minister’s Apna Ghar Programme.

On May 5, the Economic Coordination Committee of the Cabinet approved a summary submitted by the Ministry of Housing and Works on the revised framework. That includes institutional financing, public-private partnerships, inclusion of overseas Pakistanis, and participation of non-banking financial institutions to support the realisation of the programme’s targets.

Describing it as a core governmental obligation, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif launched a five-year housing programme on April 30, “intended to support citizens who have long been deprived of housing security”.

He promised to integrate the programme in the forthcoming federal budget, highlighting its dual role in facilitating homeownership and acting as an economic catalyst — the construction sector plays a central role in job creation, industrial growth and skill development.

The ‘Wazir-e-Azam Apna Ghar’ programme sets a target of 50,000 housing units in the first year with a cumulative goal of 500,000 units over the following four years. He promised to integrate the programme in the forthcoming federal budget with Rs321 billion earmarked for the initiative.

Strong intervention and adequate governance are needed to achieve successful slum upgrades

However, critics say securing funds for the programme will remain a tough job with current domestic and external economic challenges, particularly owing to the adverse impact of the Iran war on energy security, financial buffers and trade balances.

There is no doubt that, if effectively implemented, the programme will boost the housing sector and the national economy by supporting hundreds of linked industries and creating new employment opportunities, as Abad Chairman Muhammad Hassan Bakhshi says.

He added that Pakistan has now set a fixed five per cent rate for loans up to Rs10 million for a 10-year period. Under this scheme, applicants provide a 10pc down payment, with the remaining 90pc covered through bank financing. Furthermore, banks have been directed to process applications within 15 days.

The prime minister said home loans up to Rs10m would be made available on favourable terms, repayable over 20 years, with borrowers benefiting from a subsidised interest rate of 5pc for the first decade, after which market rates apply. The eligible applicants, he added, will be able to construct houses on plots up to 10 malas in size.

On April 28, scores of political figures, journalists, intellectuals, and urban planners demanded that the federal government devise a substantial, far-reaching policy regarding informal settlements that enshrines the constitutional rights of all citizens.

At a joint press conference at the National Press Club, the All Pakistan Alliance for Katchi Abadis, Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, Awami Workers Party, Aurat March, National Commission for Justice and Peace and Alliance for Urban Rights unveiled a set of written objections sent to the new Capital Development Authority (CDA) chairman, demanding an end to the practice of alleged summary evictions and rejecting a proposed regulatory framework that the CDA submitted to the Federal Constitution Court’s seminal case on Katchi Abadis, which has been ongoing since 2015.

The CDA was reminded that it was bound by the statutory obligations of its own 1960 ordinance, which explicitly mentions the need to regularise slum areas. They demanded an immediate end to the demolition of slums.

A number of well-known individuals, including Abid Hasan Minto, Farhatullah Babar, Pervez Hoodbhoy, Arif Hasan, Nadeem-ul Haque, Munizae Jahangir, Afrasiab Khattak, Alia Amirali, Shahzeb Jillani, and Wusutullah Khan, were among those who joined the main petitioner, Dr Asim Sajjad Akhtar, in noting that CDA had persistently failed to meet the constitutional obligations to provide adequate housing for low-income residents of Islamabad while repeatedly violating superior court stay orders that ban summary evictions.

Slum regularisation in Indonesia, a research report notes, focuses on upgrading informal settlements rather than blanket evictions, treating them as essential parts of the urban landscape, if underdeveloped.

As of 2026, the approach focuses on integrating infrastructural improvements, legal recognition of tenure and community-based planning.

In a research report, analysts Asyrafinafilah Hasanawi, Hasanawi Masturi and Adib Hasanawi note that Indonesia requires a unified strategy that combines centralised and decentralised governance. Strong intervention, adequate governance and ‘development from above’ are really needed to achieve successful slum upgrades.

Based on the historical development of slum upgrading in Indonesia, the research report argues that the urban upgrading approach oriented toward government intervention or the market cannot work effectively. And if slum upgrading relies solely on community participation, it would be impossible, because most slum dwellers are poor and have little choice.

In Pakistan, Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz has launched ‘Apni Chat and Apna Ghar’ (ACAG) and ‘Apni Zameen and Apna Ghar’ programmes to provide homes and free residential plots (three marlas) to low-income homeless residents.

The ACAG targets over 100,000 families, providing interest-free loans up to Rs1.5m for constructing homes on their own land (five marlas) in urban areas and (10 marlas) in rural areas. Rolled out in phases, the programme’s first phase will cover 18,992 plots across 23 schemes in 19 districts.

Published in Dawn, The Business and Finance Weekly, May 11th, 2026