The urban housing crisis increasingly demands that Habitat build multi-family, multi-level housing such as these units outside Manila, Philippines.

Critical Mass (continued)

Elusive Opportunity
When the government in Delhi demolished his shack and those of his neighbors, Shri and other squatters with ration cards were given the opportunity to purchase land--22 square yards for Rps. 7,500 (US$173) or 12 for Rps. 5,500 (US$126)--depending on how long they had held a card.

Many were unable to buy, and went back to the streets. Those who saw hope in land ownership and were able to make the lump-sum payment had little left with which to finance housing. And moving to the new community took away easy access to employment as sweepers, housemaids and construction workers and to government schools and public health facilities.

In five years, there has been little improvement in the lives of Shri and his neighbors. Created on barren, treeless land, Madanpur Khadar now hosts 15,000 families. Piles of garbage smolder on empty lots. Water is pumped from shallow wells and is not fit for drinking, though people often do. Drinking water has to be hauled from tankers. Houses don't have toilets. The few public toilets cost Rps. 2 (US$0.04) for each use--out of the question for a family of six with a daily income that averages Rps. 80--less than US$2.

Electrical poles and transformers recently arrived, but without the service to put them to use.

Shri wants something better for his family. Now, through a partnership between the Discipleship Centre and Habitat for Humanity, he and eight neighbors are saving together to finance improvements to their houses. Through Habitat's "Save & Build" plan, the two organizations have started a pilot project to help 120 families build their own decent, durable homes.

With the Save & Build program, homeowners form a savings cooperative. Once the group has saved sufficiently for one house, Habitat provides matching loans for two more houses. Save & Build partners are responsible for seeing that group members repay their loans, and loan repayments are then used to help fund new homes for other families in need.

Unlike squatters throughout India and the world, the families in Madanpur Khadar own their land. It's just that their housing is severely substandard. Through the Save & Build program, these families will add on to what they already have to make it decent and durable--which will mean reinforced concrete pillars, brick walls and concrete floors. A poured concrete roof is most desirable and would allow for expanding upward, but the families may use other roofing materials until they can afford the concrete.

Ram Shri with his wife, Puri, and their four children outside their makeshift housing in Madanpur Khadar.

Construction costs can vary widely, with as little as Rps. 2,000 (US$50) making a substantial improvement. It would cost Rps. 113,165 (US$2,600) to build an HFH house from scratch in India.

Working in India since 1983, Habitat for Humanity has built more than 10,000 houses in partnership with Indian families. Those efforts, primarily, have been in rural or semi-urban areas, but the Save & Build program has broadened that focus to include the capital city of Delhi.

In response to last December's tsunami, Habitat plans to help 10,000 affected Indian families secure decent, permanent shelter over the next two to three years. This will be done through a network of technical centers, which provide materials, training and construction expertise, and through partnerships with other organizations. Moreover, India will host the 2006 Jimmy Carter Work Project in Mumbai (Bombay), where the light will shine even brighter on the issues of substandard and affordable housing.

Out of the meager living Shri makes selling chickens he raises in cages on his "porch," he tries to save Rps. 500 (US$11.50) a month. Another "Save & Build" member is a junk dealer who goes door to door collecting newspapers and boxes to sell. Shri-pal, another partner, sells fruit on a cycle trolley; Rajwati works in a cycle repair shop while his wife works as a housemaid for four families. As they continue to pay into the group savings, their money will be matched to provide funds for the livable, safe--and permanent.

Permanence is precisely what Habitat seeks to implant, and as the urban need increases, so too, according to Firnhaber, must the extent to which the organization reaches out to other partners seeking to improve lives.

"The role of Habitat is as a catalyst for bringing a community together to form values and create a vision for the future that includes more than housing," he says. "This is why an integrated approach is so necessary: so the transformation of the community includes not just housing, but health, education and economic development. In urban areas, it's no longer a question of if we should have partnerships, but with whom we should partner.

"The tremendous problems now facing cities, particularly in the developing world, have been ignored because working in rural areas is so much easier," Firnhaber says. "Not that we shouldn't support the work in the rural areas, but the numbers of urban poor are growing so dramatically, and their issues are compounding. We need to start recognizing this and responding to it as an organization."

Meanwhile, Save & Build member Shushma fingers the savings book where she had carefully recorded Rps. 1,000 (US$23) savings in April.

"My husband, Raju, lost his job in May and we haven't been able to save more," she says in Hindi, pointing to the blank line underneath the entry for April. Rather than paying him back wages, the owner of the textile shop fired him. Now he's found another job, but he must wait--and hope--to be paid.

Sitting on the bed where her two young daughters are napping, Shushma points to the sagging wooden beam overhead. She worries that it might break and the heavy roof stones fall on her family, which includes four children under the age of 12. She is saving to buy pillars for the four corners of her house, a tie beam and a concrete slab roof.

"Before, I was living with the hope that God would do something; there was no other way," says Shushma. "Now I see that, God willing, we can do something for ourselves."

Poverty is about more than a lack of money; it's about a lack of options. But as Habitat for Humanity forges new partnerships and reaches more families like the Shris in more cities around the world, those options are increasing--as is the number of families owning a decent, affordable place to live.

--Kathryn Reid, Habitat writer based in Bangkok, Thailand, contributed to this report.