If Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO’s) and programmes such as the Urban Community Development (UCD) Programme could cater to the felt needs of the people, then why could not the housing cooperatives do the same? The answer to this question requires an in depth study of the developments in the housing market. In states like Kerala Houses are built not only for housing requirements but also to generate some income through rentals.

The crux of the housing problem in India lies in the large migration of rural migrants into urban areas and the consequent problems is an aftereffect of their extremely low economic status. The shelter needs of the poor who constitute nearly 70 percent of India’s population needs to be visualized in conjunction with their economic needs. There has been ample evidence to indicate that a significant portion of urban poor belongs to the informal sector. The reasons for the growth of this sector could partly be attributed to the inability of the formal sector to absorb the poor migrants.

Also, the restrictive coverage of the formal sector’s activities leaves a huge gap in the economy, which largely fits, into the poor man’s capabilities. The spatial repercussions of such a large sector (almost 50% of most urban areas) being monumental on the one hand, and the preference of such a sector for substandard housing on the other, has thrown into sharp focus a grave urban housing dichotomy. ‘Survival solutions’ need to take a logical precedence over ‘shelter solutions’. Shelter and survival are combined in the concept of ‘Home Based Economic Activities’ (HBEA).

In Kerala, the ‘Maithri Housing Scheme’ was actually conceived to provide housing amenities to the people of the urban slums and other cramped living spaces. This scheme succeeded in solving the problem of housing in the state to some extent. Very recently, this scheme is being implemented in other states as well.