Housing is an integral part of the well-being of a family that defines the individual, social, health, and living conditions of the members. However, due to the rapid urbanisation, providing affordable housing to city dwellers, especially to the poor is one of the biggest challenges the country is facing. Apart from access to finance, land cost and availability are the major determinants of the shortage of housing units in Pakistan.
According to an estimate, out of 229 million people in Pakistan, more than one-third live in 20.01 million houses in urban areas of Pakistan and the remaining live in nearly 13 million houses in rural areas (Dawn news, 2022). According to another estimation, the current housing shortage in Pakistan has grown from 4 million to 10 million housing units, over half of which are in urban areas which are likely to grow to 17.2 million units by 2025 (Express Tribune, 2022).
To overcome this challenge, the government needs to introduce low-cost housing schemes under which housing loans are provided to deserving ones, ensuring that affordable housing does not become a luxury good. Keeping in view the housing shortage in Pakistan, the former government had taken the initiative to launch a low-cost housing program called Naya Pakistan Housing Program (NPHP) in 2019 to provide affordable housing to the low and middle-income class with the collaboration of a public-private partnership.
The incumbent government has also approved a few new low-cost housing schemes to provide quality residential facilities to the locals at affordable rates. The concerned authorities put stress to provide incentives to the developers so that project can be completed as soon as possible. Investing in low-cost housing projects is economically beneficial for the real estate sector as it will generate numerous job opportunities during the construction process. Furthermore, building more affordable housing will help boost the businesses of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) that work on house building.
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