LOW COST HOUSING
LECTURE 2
Ar. Srijana Shakya Tamrakar
outline
Definition
Housing scenario of Nepal
In urban context
In rural context
Need of cost effective housing
Role of low cost housing
Approach to low cost housing
Planning of land and land development
Design of individual house
Building materials and construction technology
Group discussion
Group division 3 groups of 3-4 members
Brainstorm among your group members and
prepare a presentation on
What is low cost housing?
Why do you think it is necessary?
Introduction
What is low cost house?
1st
impression
Does it imply low quality housing?
Inferior houses are cheap but they are unfit for living
unhealthy indoor environment
risky and vulnerable to natural disaster like fire, storm ,
flood
Costlier in the long run
Definition
What is low cost house?
Low cost house are more precisely cost effective house
YET……Without compromise in quality, durability and
strength
Aim
Aim of low cost housing is to make available at
affordable cost to different target groups, the
shelter which is strong, functional and durable
How can we achieve this aim?
Approach to low cost housing
Planning and land development
Design of individual building use of building material
and construction technology
Use of building materials and construction technology
Need?
1. Population increase
Percentage and growth rate of urban population
a steep increase in the urban population, which has reached 14.2 per cent
in the year 2001
indicates that over the period of last forty years, urban population has
increased by around 400%.
The urban population growth rate is almost double of the rural population.
Need?
2. Housing demand
It estimates that, on the basis of increasing growth rate of
population, there is going to be increase in housing demand in
future
According to NSP- 1996, in1991 the total number of houses in
Nepal were altogether 3,000,000 (million), 90% of which were in
rural areas and 0.3 millions in urban areas
In urban alone, from 2002- 2006, additional requirement of
dwelling units may be 5 % per year.
It was estimated that total of 2.5 millions new dwelling units are
required for the period, out of which 17 % will be in urban areas
during 1992-2006 and 2.1 millions in rural areas.
Over same period about 732,000 dwelling units are to be repaired
and renovated. (60,000 in urban areas)
Need?
2. Housing situation and condition
Housing Type
(National Shelter Policy 1996)
41.2%
91.7%
8.3%
National Shelter 50.5%
policy 1996
Permanent Other
semi permanent temporary
Only 8.3% of Nepalese people have permanent type of
shelter
Out of remaining 91.7%, 41.2 % are semi permanent
and almost half of the houses in Nepal (50.5%) are
temporary
the condition of these temporary houses are
precarious- most have only one or two rooms with
range of activities- cooking; breeding of animals
even sleeping in the same room
cramped and unhealthy rooms due to dampness, smoke
In addition vulnerable to natural disasters like fire,
storm, floods etc….
E.g. fire alone destroys almost 10000 houses every
year making them homeless and bankrupt
Most of these houses belong to families who are
traditionally poor, hence cannot afford good shelter
condition
Low and middle income groups either are homeless or are
living in rented house in dilapidated conditions
In both urban and rural areas there is growing
phenomenon of squatter settlement.
The squatter population has almost touched 10 per cent in the
urban areas
The number of renters is quite significant with 23 per cent (
NLSS 2004)
In additon
cost of materials as well as labour is high
So owning a permanent type of house can only be a
dream!!
Need?
3. Resource limitation
Resources- building materials, skilled labor, transportation
and building site equipments , financing
Due to lack of substantial finance- there are deficit between
housing demand and supply
Such deficit can be minimized by application of low cost
housing technology
So from the given physical resources of funds, materials, land
and skill, we should be able to produce maximum number of
houses of good quality at an affordable cost.
Thus, low cost housing can be defined as appropriate and
efficient use of limited resources
In sum- necessities
To reduce overall cost of the building
To provide affordable dwelling even for the low
income group
To improve the living condition of the people living
in slums and squatter; rental dwelling in dilapidated
conditions
To save unnecessary use of money and material in
construction of building by providing good
supervision
How can we resolve this?
So low cost housing can be aimed for these target
groups by developing the different appropriate
technologies most fitted to them
Use locally available building materials – drawbacks?
– need improvement by application of modern science
& technology
Role of low cost housing
Low cost technology can play great role in poverty
alleviation of nation like easy access of health and
education
Improvement in living condition of the poor
Making hygienic shelther within the affordable cost of
the poor will eliminate existing health hazard among
the poor thus improve the living conditions
Reduction of the cost of construction for the
development projects like schools, hospitals etc
Role of low cost housing
Prevention or mitigation of the destruction due to
natural hazards ( fire, floods, earthquake)
Fire hazards alone makes approx. 10,000 families not
only homeless but also bankrupt every year
Prevention of this disaster is also greater contribution to
poverty alleviation
E.g. replacement of thatch roof by bamboo reinforced
soil roof prevent such fire hazards.
Similarly cement stabalised soil block, retrofitting by
bamboo structure can solve other disaster problems like
earthquakes, floods etc.
Role of low cost housing
Employment generation
People can be trained in the improvement of local
construction tehcnology
Role of low cost housing
Change in the living habit of the people
A rupee spent in planning
saves rupees ten in
Construction !
Concept of Cost Effective housing
Utilize available resources (LML)
Land
Material most efficiently
labour
Efficient use of land
as less as possible
but not congested or unhealthy environment
Efficient use of building materials
still strong , durable and functional
Efficient use of labour
To utilize local available construction technology with minor
improvements
UNHABITAT- (Country Profile- 2008-09)
In Nepal about 8% of the houses are slum ?
4,50,000 people in Nepal cannot afford their own housing and hence
live in slums and squatters
Urban housing situation
Nepal Living Standards Survey Reports (CBS 2004)
only77.8 % of the people in the urban areas felt the provision of housing to
be adequate,
21.6 % of the people found it inadequate
