World Disability Day: To Build Homes For the Disabled, India Needs A Liberalised Real Estate Sector

As the globe observes the International Day of Disabled Persons today, data show that nearly 70 million people in India have some disability or the other. While building homes that meet the needs of this segment is inherently challenging, there are three major hurdles that India faces in sheltering its disabled:

In India, the ratio of home prices to income levels is high, especially in metropolitan cities. If the government imposes regulations for incorporating disabled-friendly features in homes, it would make residences even more expensive. However, if the ratio of home prices to income levels decline, costs we pay for building homes for the disabled will also decline. Developers are more likely to take initiatives to build such homes, if the cost involved is less. For example, developers construct green homes and projects without authorities asking them to do so. By taking some of these steps, governments and local authorities can take to make homes more affordable:

A) By allowing mixed use developments

B) By making property rights more secure

C) By allow high density developments

D) By repeal counter-productive zoning regulations

E) By building better roads, metro lines, and rail-road networks.

F) By attracting greater capital investment from abroad

The Centre and state governments have various schemes for the disabled. The Delhi government, for example, has preferential allotment of flats and other forms of property for the disabled. But, the scale of such schemes is small, relative to the problem. For example, in Delhi, disabled people have one per cent reservation in allotment of flats. But, nearly seven per cent of India's population is disabled in some way or the other.

Even when real estate developers want to build features for disabled, they find that Indian architects and urban planners are not trained to build such homes, malls and other projects. Developers often have to hire foreign architects for such constructions. This is true even of the government-run projects. The Delhi metro, for example, had to hire consultants from abroad to ensure that it had disabled-friendly features. This raises the cost of such projects. To build homes for the disabled, India needs a more globalised labour pool.