Why do people live in unsafe houses?

In a recent incidence in a suburb in Pune, a recently built & occupied apartment building caved in, where a young engineer lost his life . Also numerous families were rendered homeless. Questions are being now raised about the quality of construction, responsibilities of private builders, engineers, carelessness of government etc etc, putting this debate in national news.The question which comes to mind is that “Why did people occupy a building, where structural safety was in doubt ?”

 Why do people live in unsafe houses?

 This question has two dimensions, actually two types:

Type 1: People who are unaware that their homes are unsafe

Type 2:  People who are aware but still  live in unsafe homes.

Let us understand, first the issue of “Need for Housing in Indian cities”. Currently India is one of the fastest urbanizing nations in the world. As per a report by an organization called KPMG , India’s urban population has grown at a CAGR of 2.8 percent over 2001-2011, resulting in an increase in the urbanization rate from 27.8 percent to 31.2 percent.6 Out of India’s 1.21 billion population, 377 million people are urban dwellers.

If we now look at Pune city alone, as per a recent press report in a national daily newspaper, - “The city is expected to witness a 40 per cent shortfall in the supply of housing units by the end of 2018. While it would require an additional 1,91,200 housing units, the supply is likely to be around 77,500 units, said a study conducted by global real estate consultancy firm Cushman & Wakefield (C&W), “India's top eight cities, including Pune, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi-NCR, Hyderabad and Kolkata, will contribute 23 per cent or 2.65 million units to the total demand for urban housing, the study said.

The study stated that 80 per cent of the additional demand for homes in these eight cities will come from the middle income group (MIG) and lower income group (LIG).

Such a huge demand for housing will only be created by private sector, which offers housing as a product for sale in various parts of the city. People buy homes, finally based upon their affordability. Affordability is a by product of a term called ‘Market value’ of homes. Market value is directly controlled by two factors. First an marginally variable factor of cost of construction, & second a hugely variable factor of cost of land, which changes almost every kilometre in large cities based upon factors like proximity to city centre, accessibility , quality of infrastructure, governing authority, surrounding urban development etc.

 The factor of “Safety” of home comes out unfortunately, based upon the issue of Affordability. The upper middle class who work in service industry, who get access to easy loans from reputed banks, whose repayment capacities are never questioned, who has insurance & healthcare protection etc buys homes from the ‘Reputed’ developers. High in market value due to their location of land, most of them use good standards of construction, are supervised by good engineers within standard systems , thus ensuring a basic quality which at least ensures a safe structure at end of the day.

 The middle class & lower middle class struggles to find a house within their affordable price limits & ends up moving on to suburbs, where the price of homes is less due to low land price in comparison with those near centre of cities, but there is a fair chance that the developers operating in many areas may be unknown & non qualified people .(By the way – Is there any qualification required in India to become a developer ? ,apart from ownership of land parcels). In city suburbs there are various types of housing options available to people. Even though most of the projects are sanctioned by local authorities or the local authorities may apply procedures of safety before giving completion certificates etc, many of these may be mere formalities done for the sake of making it easy for Bank loan purposes.

 Let us understand typical procedure of house buying for most people :

1) After decision to buy is made, you understand how much is your loan eligibility

2) You start looking for projects around the city either with developers or through real estate agents,

    which are new or resale flats.

3) Apart from your biggest aspect of costing, you see the house plans, interior finishes, of course Vastushastra (???), amenities given by developers i.e security, club house , gardens etc etc .

 4) You are impressed with the 3d views & elevations of building, glass , color etc

 5) You finalize the home & approach the bank.

 
6) The bank checks if the property is sanctioned by municipal corporation, if the floor you have selected is sanctioned & at the max, in case of old property it may ask you a title search report . If getting loan from a reputed bank becomes difficult due to certain reasons, you settle down for making financial arrangements from other sources & buy a property within your budget reach..

 7) After registration, you occupy the home & start living after making your beautiful interiors...

 Isn’t it strange- Within the above process – there is no attention of quality of construction, quality of RCC work, if various structural stability certificates are taken. There is no attempt to get a third party check done by structural engineers & architects, about previous wear & tear of the apartment or get useful information from the neighbourhood about reputation of developers..The same middle class family does all sorts of research about quality, usability, about safety features etc when it buys a car which comes at 20 percent of price of the apartment.

Hence most of the unfortunate people will fall in Type 1 – category – Those who are unaware ,that they are living in a unsafe Home. They come to know only when something happens, maybe structural cracks, or part of building caves in.

Ist’ it our duty to check the quality of the building, when your entire family is going to occupy the house? In various developed countries, there is a standard government procedure to get a third party check done by expert teams of Architects & Engineers before you approach the bank for loan. Why not do it before you buy?

 The second category of people i.e. Type 2- category- are the people who are aware that their home is unsafe. Buildings get wear off due to various factors like weather, poor construction quality or sheer age of building. Except a sudden earthquake, before a structure fails, it starts giving signals hours, days or even months before. Many times these signals are taken casually. I have seen buildings occupied which have a government tag of unsafe building on it. Retro fitting of building is common system & procedure, which needs to be done immediately. People avoid it for various reasons like maintenance for the building being not collected from families, waiting of government to take action, waiting for landlord to redevelop the building etc. This is like committing suicide. Today in a local daily was an article & photo of defence owned government buildings in Pune , where families continue living.

If we fall ill, we go to a Doctor, we get admitted to hospital as we fear our life may get over. When the building is ill or in better words – ‘unsafe’, why don’t we immediately vacate our home & go to an engineer ?

Any suspected unsafe building should be got examined by a structural engineer. Similar to MRI & there are non destructive tests available these days. As per the guidance of the structural engineers, specialized contractors will help retrofit the building. In case of extreme conditions, the building may have to be destroyed & rebuilt. It is better to live in a poor’s hut instead of living in an unsafe palace.

Thus ensuring your safety & avoiding damage due to building collapse is in your hands.

 
In simple words –Life is precious. Please do not risk it by living in Unsafe buildings.

Wishing your happiness & safety !

 

Hrishikesh Ashtekar

Architect