The Khuda-ki-Basti - The Innovation

The urban poor in developing countries cannot afford to buy “fully serviced land” (land equipped with water, sanitation and electricity) or a completed house. The Khuda-ki-Basti (“God’s own settlement”) approach was conceived by Tasneem Siddiqui and his team in 1987 at the Hyderabad Development Authority (HDA). Siddiqui went on to found two social enterprises that have worked for the last 15 years to test, improve and replicate the approach – and he is achieving this.

Saiban uses an incremental housing development concept for low-income families. A departure from the traditional public sector approach, Saiban builds upon the successes of the informal sector in relation to low-income housing, but overcomes its deficiencies. In the public sector model, state-owned land is first serviced with essential infrastructure and then plots are made available for purchase – but because development costs are high, the poor cannot afford them. Moreover, the application process is slow and cumbersome, involving bureaucratic red tape and corruption. As a result, the plots are sold to middle-class or real-estate speculators. With the informal sector approach, a developer subdivides land, often grabs with the collusion of corrupt officials, and makes the plots available for purchase. Initially, there is no infrastructure, making the plots affordable to the poor. The allocation process is hassle-free and plot delivery is made as soon as payment is received. The major drawbacks of this approach are that tenure is insecure because the land is illegally acquired and infrastructure and services develop slowly, in an unplanned manner, and are of poor quality.

The Khuda-ki-Basti model formalizes the informal sector approach. Saiban works in partnership with government agencies, purchases land, subdivides it as per zoning regulations into small plots and then markets these to the poor. Payment schedules are flexible and burdensome paperwork is kept to a minimum. The approach has provided housing to over 6,000 families and has benefited around 40,000. New projects initiated by Saiban will provide housing to another 6,500 families, benefiting an additional 42,000. Saiban’s model has been recognized at home and internationally as an effective, sustainable solution to the housing problem of the urban poor, with tremendous scope for replication.