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URBAN PROPERTY
 
Housing: a fundamental human right
Syed Ishtiaque Reza
2/2/2005
 

          The majority of families who live in sub-standard houses in Bangladesh yearn for the day when their poor housing experiences will end. Beside their poverty, these families struggle daily to overcome the hardships of sub-standard housing.
As a matter of fact, some of them without accommodation, seek warmth in the cold, relief from the scorching heat and a better life in every climate. Meanwhile, their health declines, their anguish deepens and their hope fades to a glimmer.
These are indeed deplorable conditions that majority of our people continue to experience. And yet these are the very people who are supposed to be empowered with decent housing among other things.
If housing is indeed a fundamental human right, then the concerns of these people needed special consideration.
The prices for housing units in the urban areas which range from Tk. 1.5 million to Tk. 10 million are unreasonable and beyond the reach of an average Bangladeshis, who to make matters worse struggles to have three meals a day.
The above concern of commoners should not go unchecked. Take for example a three bed-roomed flat in Dhaka is going around at least Tk. 1.5 million and a similar house in a divisional town will cost much less.
Probably it needs to be understood that Bangladesh is currently faced with socio-economic problems among them housing. Being a Third World country, Bangladesh has over the years witnessed poverty that has brought down family pillars to a rubble.
Family ties have continued to crumble as many scramble to have three meals a day. It is reality that 'the three meal" per day is now a thing of the past even for many ordinary citizens because persisting price hike of essentials.
Houses should not be sold like shirts. The government's sale of houses to ordinary Bangladeshis can be seen as an empowerment exercise to the citizenry.
The issue of housing is more than just political issue but a social need that affects every citizen regardless of their status. Shelter, food, water, education and health is part of the fundamental human right, which must be respected by all in a civilized society. And failure by any government to avail its citizens with these basic needs will invite the wrath of proponents of democracy of which these rights are the foundation stones.
The government should devise a mechanism that would enable the majority of poor to own a house. Like the African countries the government could think of a non-political housing empowerment programme for better use of lands and spaces. There is need to take a leaf from other countries who have had well meaning housing policies.
In South Africa, the housing empowerment policy is at 50 per cent cost-share on purchase price. This means that government pays off 50 per cent of the purchase price while the other 50 per cent is paid by a sitting tenant by means of loans and mortgages over a period of over 10 years. As a result of such measures many South Africans are getting empowered.
As it is said, housing is among other things deemed to be a fundamental human right. Addressing it is one way of ridding people of poverty. It is therefore incumbent upon government to protect its citizens from housing exploitation failure to which poverty reduction would be an illusion if not a myth.

 

 
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