The country needs about 40,000 houses to provide housing facilities to all the poor people and squatters. About 3.39 million of the country’s population do not have their own house and are living in rent or as squatters.

According to the Central Bureau of Statistics, the country has about 4.7 million houses for a population of 26.49 million.

Over 12.81 per cent of the population do not have houses, said programme manager of Lumanti — a non-governmental organisation advocating for housing rights — Sama Vajra at an interaction today. “It is especially the urban poor who have been suffering more due to this shortage,” she said, adding that houses have become inaccessible for them due to growing prices.

“The poor, who earn less than Rs 200 a day, cannot dream of owning a house in the country,” she said, “Therefore, the government should take the initiative to solve the problem.” According to her, the government could provide houses to them through a subsidy cum soft loan or installment policy. “Government support is necessary to stop illegal settlements too.”

According to the census, most of the population in Kathmandu are living in rented quarters. About 58.65 per cent of the people living in Kathmandu do not have their own homes.

A study by Lumanti has shown that there is a huge demand for affordable houses among the middle-income people. “Squatters could also be attracted to the community housing system if there is some subsidy and easy installment plan,” she said.

The problem of squatters has been growing in Kathmandu valley, with about 35,000 squatters. Their settlements on the banks of Bagmati, Bishnumati and Manohara rivers have covered about 75 hectares of land in the valley. Similarly, about 58.65 per cent of the 1.74 million people in Kathmandu have been living in rental facilities — houses and apartments.

People living in rent also want to buy their own houses but current facilities are beyond their reach, said journalist Ramkrishna Regmi, while presenting a paper on housing rights to all. “Housing is a basic necessity of the people but the country has ignored it,” he said, adding that civil society and journalists should highlight the issue of providing affordable houses to the middle-income, poor and squatters.

source: The Himalayan Times,28 Nov 2012