The complicated correlation between affordable housing and gender violence

Oct 21, 2019

Sania, 25, sits underneath a line of clothes hung up to dry in the living room of their flat in an illegal building located next to the site of a building which collapsed last week, in Thane district on the outskirts of Mumbai April 10, 2013. A shortage of affordable housing in Indian cities has led to rampant illegal construction by developers using cheap materials and shoddy methods in order to offer low-cost homes to low-paid workers, paying bribes to officials to turn a blind eye. Despite several promises by the government to build affordable homes for India's poor in densely populated cities, the country's urban housing shortage is estimated at nearly 19 million households. That lack of affordable housing is especially acute in Mumbai, India's financial capital and home to some of the world's costliest real estate, where an estimated six out of every 10 people live in slums. Picture taken April 10, 2013. REUTERS/Vivek Prakash (INDIA - Tags: SOCIETY TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY) - GM1E94C05KW01

Sania, 25, sits underneath a line of clothes hung up to dry in the living room of their flat in an illegal building. Image: REUTERS/Vivek Prakash

Paula Meth

Reader, Department of Urban Studies and Planning, University of Sheffield

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SDG 01: No Poverty

Affordable housing in South Africa, 2014.

Image: Paula Meth

Images of informal and formal housing in India, 2014.

Image: Paula Meth

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