Public housing in Ernakulam

In urban areas of Ernakulam district, a group housing and multi-storied housing have come in vogue. Housing boards and city development authorities have been building houses for various income groups for outright sale as well on a hire-purchase system. Self-financing housing schemes have also been taken up. Measures have also been devised to enhance consumer satisfaction.

But the waiting time is rather long and in terms of cost and quality of construction much remains to be achieved. Moreover, unauthorized transfer of flats and their re-sale have given rise to speculation in the real estate market. As such it is increasingly being emphasized that housing and development agencies should act more as promoters and facilitators rather than builders and owners of housing units. The private sector should be encouraged and supported to build houses to suit the requirements of different income groups.

In Ernakulam Real Estate development was the sole prerogative of the scores of government agencies. They had sufficient funds at their disposal to effect a change in the real estate market. Even then many of the government housing projects were not up to the mark. Due to the poor quality and the custom made design, people who availed of these units lost faith in the products rather quickly. And to compound the woes of the government controlled housing agencies, the inadequacies of the system got around through the word of mouth and thus the common people got to know about it and they walked away from this option.

Thus in recent times, the government agencies are taking the role of a facilitator than that of a participant. Actually this role serves it best since there are not much overheads and other expenses involved. The private sector is given a free hand and they have proved their ability in doling out world-class living spaces at affordable costs.