Housing Poverty and Inequality in Urban India

Sohail Ahmad ()
Additional contact information
Sohail Ahmad: Uitned Nations University

Chapter Chapter 6 in Poverty Reduction Policies and Practices in Developing Asia, 2015, pp 107-122 from Springer

Abstract: Abstract Inequitable distribution of resources, including physical capital such as housing, poses a threat to sustainable developmentSustainable development . Employing a case of housing in urban India, focusing on renter and slum dwellersSlum dwellers , this study documents housing inequality and poverty, examines whether and why there is a gap in living standards (measured by dwelling size), and estimates the demand for housing. The study uses decomposition analysis to identify causes of inequality and estimates demand for housing among owner, renterRenter and slum dwellers, employing a national representative microdata over a survey of 50,000 households. The results revealed that the average floor area consumption in renter/slum householdsSlum households is about two-third of the owner households, ceteris paribus. The reason for poor quality of renter/slum dwellings is not limited to differences in endowment levels, but also includes different ‘rates of return’ to these endowments. In order to enhance housing consumption in renter/slum dwellers, in addition to income improvement strategies, there needs to be a focus on skills upgradation and provision of a stable employment base. Moreover, renters/slums dwellers are concentrated in million plus cities and in the western and eastern regions of the country. Therefore, specific housing programs should be designed to target these regions.

Keywords: Living standard; Housing; Poverty; Inequality; Renter; Slum; India (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:esichp:978-981-287-420-7_6

Ordering information: This item can be ordered from
http://www.springer.com/9789812874207

DOI: 10.1007/978-981-287-420-7_6

Access Statistics for this chapter

More chapters in Economic Studies in Inequality, Social Exclusion, and Well-Being from Springer
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().