Housing is a very common problem in almost all the big cities of Pakistan. As the population of our towns has been increasing at a very fast speed for the last twenty years. The number of new houses has not kept pace with the increasing number of inhabitants. Although many new cities have cropped up, and hundreds of new colonies have been built, still the problem of getting a suitable accommodation in big cities is very difficult.
Housing is a very important problem. It is considered to be one of the basic needs of man. As everybody is not able to build a house for himself, there is always a demand for rental houses. From the economic point of view too, it is uneconomical to build a house for one’s own residence than to live in a rented house. Therefore, a businessman would like to invest his money in some paying business rather than build a house. Again, thousands of villagers have shifted to cities, and naturally, they require hundreds of houses to live in. Thus, there has grown a great shortage of houses in almost all the j big cities of Pakistan.
Our government has also done something to solve their problem. In every bit city there have been set up ‘Improvement Trusts’ and ‘Development Boards’ to build new colonies and satellite towns. But that is not sufficient. Some of these Trusts and Boards have wasted the Government money, and their achievements are not satisfactory. In Lahore alone the Improvement Trust has built more than four dozen colonies in the last twenty years, but most of them are either ill planned or badly managed. These agencies could scantly help the public in solving their housing problem if there had— been some common sense, sincere effort and fair-play. Some private Tarts have also been made to build new colonies, but these too have not produced the desired results. More of the privately managed colonies are ill-built, and do not have even the basic facilities as roads, parks, schools, drainage-system and markets.
Another kind of, housing agency, called the ‘House Building Finance’ Corporation, ‘has also been set up by the government. it has helped in solving the housing problem to some extent. But as this agency’ is run on business lines, it has not been of much use. It advances loans for building, houses at a very high rate of interest, and people can hardly afford these terms.
Thus, the housing problem in Pakistan is still unsolved. It calls for a determined effort both on the part of the government as Thus, the housing problem in Pakistan is still unsolved. It a determined effort both on the part of the government as well as the public. As most of our countrymen are very poor are cannot afford building houses of their own, it is fair if t government may make a plan to give houses to every homely family on easy installments, or on hire-purchase basis. In this way even a poor family will be able to own a house in a few years’ tine Moreover, the government should also make a law compelling an’ industrialists to provide housing facilities to their employees. This will ease the situation. A good number of middle class colonies --should also be built in every city, and only the needy are settle there. It is in this away that our housing problem can be solved.