Urban Housing for All – A Training Manual for Community Action
Urban inequality in India is a colonial heritage. However, it is one that we have not yet been able to shrug off effectively. Urban planning has consistently failed the informal worker, and we can see this most starkly in land use patterns and spatial segregation. Urban experts have written that post-colonial urban developments have mostly replicated colonial processes of exclusion and social separation.
We need to recognise that the issue of housing for the urban poor, who are primarily informal workers, extends far beyond the provision of mere shelter. It represents a complex web of socio-political and economic rights deeply intertwined with the broader pursuit of social justice and the right to the city. Most residents of urban slums and the urban homeless are migrants in search of livelihood, relying on various forms of daily wage labour to survive. These informal workers play a crucial role in building and sustaining any city. Yet, they themselves remain deprived of their basic rights, one of the most important being the right to safe and dignified housing.
As urbanisation accelerates, the marginalisation of disadvantaged communities deepens, thus setting in place systemic exclusions that violate the basic principles of equity and justice embedded in our legal and constitutional framework.
It is in this context that we are publishing “Urban Housing for All: A Training Manual for Community Action” as a comprehensive guide for senior Human Rights Defenders (HRD) to conduct training for leaders of Community-based Organisations (CBO) and activists on addressing housing issues for informal workers.
This publication is part of a collaboration between Azim Premji Foundation (APF) and ActionAid Association, which seeks to address the socio-political barriers that hinder informal workers from accessing their rightful entitlements. Through this collaborative project, we strive to build individual and collective agency of people in the informal economy and other distressed communities in rural and urban areas so that they can access their rights and entitlements and promote and advance social justice.
This manual, the first of a series of such publications addressing crucial issues facing informal workers, will collectively form a pivotal component of our strategy to confront the socio-political barriers that impede access to justice, rights and entitlements. We have striven to craft this document as a comprehensive guide to serve senior Human Rights Defenders (HRDs) in their mission to train Community-Based Organizations (CBO) leaders and activists. These leaders and activists stand on the front lines of advocating for the housing rights of the informal workers, and we have designed this manual to help them guide the social activists they will train to explore the necessary legal, strategic, and advocacy tools to navigate the intricate landscape of urban housing policies.
This manual is rooted in a thorough analysis of existing legal frameworks, policy environments, and judicial precedents. It explores the intricacies of housing rights and situates them within the broader context of social justice. It recognises the intersectionality of housing with other socio-economic rights, thereby offering an integrated approach to addressing urban poverty. This resource aims to empower CBO leaders to advocate for housing as an independent issue and as part of a comprehensive strategy for achieving social equity.
