OneWorld.net (U.S.)

Karachi: Housing is without doubt the most important issue facing the vast majority of people living in Karachi. The failure to resolve it is creating stress, uncertainty and homelessness for the poorer and lower-middle-class sections of society and increasing the rich-poor divide.

Since independence, a large housing demand-supply gap has always existed in Karachi. Previously this gap was accommodated in katchi abadis.

Meeting demands of global capital

However, this is becoming difficult as land that could previously be used for katchi abadis is now required for meeting the demands of global capital and the emerging middle class.

Due to this, prices of land in katchi abadis have become unaffordable, even for the better-off among the poor. As a result, entire families have now started living on the streets and in public spaces.

Surveys suggest that the majority of these are those who have been evicted from their previous homes due to rising rent and land use changes or due to the break-up of extended families, often because of disputes related to ownership or to a lack of space.

Once, Karachi housing-related professionals were very proud that unlike other mega cities of South Asia, people did not sleep in the streets in their city. This is no longer the case.

The demand for strategically located land by commercial interests, often promoted by profit-seeking mega projects, is also evicting people from existing katchi abadis. Since 1997, more than 50,000 Karachi households have had their homes bulldozed.

More than half these evictions have taken place in the last four years. In addition, since then 1,777 huts have been burnt, rendering more than 12,000 homeless. Nineteen minor children, four young girls and six adults were burnt alive in these incidents. Plazas have been constructed on some of these locations.

Pushing to the margins

About 50% of the evictees have been offered a plot of land in a relocation site. Urban Resource Centre surveys of the relocation sites, which are 20 to 25 kilometres away from the city centre, show that relocation has impoverished the affectees. This is because their travel costs have increased by more than 100%, their women can no longer work, their children’s education has been disrupted, utilities are not available unlike previously, and the long hours of travelling to and from work increase stress and disrupts family and social life.

Fish vendors, hawkers, motor mechanics and small commercial enterprises cannot operate from high-rise apartments. Therefore, the upgradation of katchi abadis is the only viable solution.

Getting rid of eyesores

The major objection of the anti-katchi abadi-regularisation lobby is that they are ‘eyesores’. However, experience from other Third World countries shows that they can be made extremely attractive with very little investment.

Surveys for the Karachi Strategic Development Plan 2020, a comparison of the 1981 and 1998 census and other official documents show that housing conditions in Karachi have deteriorated.

For example, in 1978 the katchi abadi population was 55% of the total population of Karachi. In 1980 it was 43%. This decline was due to the social housing policies of the Bhutto government in the 1970s.

In 1998 the katchi abadi population was 50% of the Karachi population and in 2006 it was 61%. ADB figures indicate that 50.5% of Karachi residents live below the poverty line. For katchi abadis this figure is 89% of which 54% are chronic poor. This is a major increase from previous surveys.

The Karachi Strategic Development Plan 2020 survey shows that 34.4% of households earn less than Rs 5,000 and 41.4% earn between Rs 5,000 and Rs 10,000 per month. It is estimated that these households spend 75% of their earnings on food items and 18% on utility bills. This means that the current housing market cannot possibly be accessed by over 75% of Karachi households.

Source: Dawn