The Hindu Business Line : Building homes

The past year or so has seen nature's fury in all its worst forms. With natural calamities unleashing terror across the globe, millions have been left homeless and stranded.

The problem of housing has taken a new dimension especially in India, with the tsunami and earthquake depriving people of their livelihood and shelter. While post-disaster efforts are no doubt necessary, a sustainable disaster-proof model is the need of the hour.

Habitat for Humanity, a 30-year-old US-based organisation, working to provide low-cost housing, aims to do just that. Its India chapter recently launched the India Builds programme to address the problem of sustainable housing in the country.

Joseph Mathai, Director, Resource Development, Habitat for Humanity India, says the need for housing in India is perceivable. "As population goes up, housing shortfall also increases, so does the constraint on land." According to estimates, currently there is a shortfall of 40 million houses in India; 60 per cent of the country's 180 million dwellings are in a dilapidated condition.

Habitat for Humanity India was started in 1983. Since then it has built around 11,000 houses, sheltering over 60,000 people in states such as Andhra Pradesh, Orissa, Maharashtra and Gujarat.

An ambitious project

Launched in October, the India Builds project hopes to impact the lives of 2.5 lakh people by providing around 50,000 homes (including new and renovated dwellings) in the next five years. It will rope in one million volunteers from all over the world; all this with the help of a revolving fund of Rs 400 crore.

Ambitious indeed, but Habitat is confident of meeting it. "We are looking at leading personalities to spearhead the campaign. Next year, we are having former US president Jimmy Carter and his wife to spend a week in Lonavla in Mumbai," says Mathai.

Like all Habitat schemes, India Builds too will work on a loan system without charging interest. To start with, the family that will own the house will chip in about one-third of the cost. While Habitat puts in an equal amount, a local or national organisation brings in the rest.

To be eligible, the individual should have a regular income to help repay the loan in five to seven years. "It is not a free dole-out. And money that comes in is circulated within the community to build more houses," says Mathai.

Says C. Rajkumar, Project Director, Habitat Tsunami Reconstruction Initiative, "Families are the owners of the house. We are not building the house; we are only helping them have a decent house. Families are the stakeholders in the project; some even chip in with their sweat equity."

"So far, the loan repayment for our programmes in India has been almost 90 per cent. Through our `save and build model', accountability comes into the community. The concept is similar to a chit fund or a self-help group model," he says.

The beneficiaries of Habitat's programmes are those in the low-income category. On an average, each dwelling of 240-260 sq ft will cost Rs 80,000-Rs 1 lakh in the cities. In the rural areas, it is 15-20 per cent cheaper, as some may already hold land and their sweat equity is higher.

Habitat India is also trying to work with slum dwellers in Delhi through local NGOs. But the problem with slum dwellers is "some don't own the land; so if we do something for them, the government may move them away. We are discussing a project to help 200 families in the slums in the land that has been identified as either their own or Government-given," says Rajkumar.

Tsunami rehabilitation

Habitat India is also involved in the tsunami rehabilitation programme in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala, where houses are repaired or rebuilt free of cost. This programme works on the basis of a three-tier system involving disaster response centres to co-ordinate and provide administrative support, the Habitat Building and Technical Centres (HBTC) and technical resource centres for future intervention and training in construction methods.

The HBTC works closer to the field, serving around 1,500 families in the tsunami-affected areas. Habitat India is partnering with local NGOs such as the Leprosy Mission Trust in Chidambaram, the Rotary Club of Chennai and Mumbai, and Tanpac, a Birla company, in a village near Cuddalore.

The initiative is currently under way in Tamil Nadu at Nochikuppam in Chennai (nine units to be built), Killai in Chidambaram (111 units) and Marakkanam (47 houses for the handicapped).

Habitat India's goal is to help 10,000 families over three years across Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala at an estimated $10 million. This year's target is 2,000. From March 2005, over 800 families have been helped with repair and renovation.

Houses are built taking into consideration local weather conditions and with certain in-built features to protect them from natural disasters. Says Rajkumar, "For example, our tsunami houses will have a lintel band on the roof which acts like a belt and keeps all four walls together so that no wall moves out. This helps the building stay intact from natural disasters. But of course, no building can be completely foolproof. But our houses will not collapse or crack that easily."

Habitat India's `in-situ' constructions — onsite units for those with houses in bad shape — have come in for some appreciation. It is a structure that is tailor-made to the space available, using locally available materials (such as wooden rafters and tiles).

In the tsunami-ravaged village of Puttukuli in Tirunelveli district, Habitat India has created 27 such houses, which have become such a hit that there has been a request for 200 more houses in that area.

These houses are brick structures, but the roof is built using wooden rafters. While houses built normally with reinforced concrete takes 35-40 days to complete, the in-situ constructions can be completed in 3-4 weeks.

"With this kind of intervention, we can extend our help to almost twice the number of families," says Rajkumar.

But how easy is it to get local support and acceptance for such initiatives? "Initially, our co-ordinators go to the area, conduct evening programmes and social events even before construction begins. The locals are initially sceptical but later on the wall is broken down. Particularly when they see the volunteers working with seriousness, they are reassured of our focus and idea. For example, during our tsunami initiative, people would initially watch from a distance and then move closer. When the volunteers started painting, the locals also joined in. The women around the construction area join first and then slowly the men begin to enter the scene."

Habitat's initiatives revolve around its strong network of volunteers from several countries. Says Mathai, "We encourage corporates to send in their people to spend time with the community for a week or so. Our programmes transcend all cultural and geographic boundaries."

Continuous monitoring and evaluation is also part of Habitat's activities. "The way we are received by the family shows they are happy with our work. Of course, there are constant requests for this and that. Then we gently tell them: `let's start with a structurally safe building, needs can always be taken care of later.'" The women in the tsunami areas were "very appreciate of our work and are happy they have a good ventilated house with privacy," says Rajkumar.

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