For the uber-rich in Mumbai, there is no dearth of options for homes, and policy makers clamour to announce low-income housing projects. Those in between, belonging to the middle class, are left hanging. The development of ‘new towns’ like Navi Mumbai has not helped resolve the housing crisis, according to a research paper, ‘Losing the Purpose of Satellite Towns’ at the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay.

The findings, published in the journal Cities, said there is a need for improved planning in satellite towns, if they are to become a viable solution to the housing problem. The research relied on data from the real estate sector, as well as that available with the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, and the Ready Reckoner.

“The largest demand is for mid-income group (MIG) housing, but it is least taken care of,” said professor Arnab Jana, Centre for Urban Science and Engineering, who led the study.

A sizeable number of houses in cities remain unoccupied because private builders focus on building high-cost apartments, mainly catering to the higher-income groups, said the study. Besides, the middle class is ineligible for most government schemes. “High-income group housing is driven by market forces. But for the MIG, there are no homes available in the ₹1-crore range in a prime area,” professor Jana said. Unlike low-income housing, there is no motivation to create housing for MIG, he said.

Also, the inability to define MIG throughout the country has hindered the formulation of a viable housing policy targeting them. “The easy availability of loans and credit-based purchasing power has made MIG housing more profitable for construction companies. However, current pricing patterns in the major metro cities still make the available housing stocks beyond their reach,” professor Jana said.

In the case of Navi Mumbai, one of the areas of the study, the City and Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO), which is responsible for building affordable housing, had estimated that Navi Mumbai would reach a population of two million by 2011 (Regional Plan-1973). Navi Mumbai was expected to absorb a large part of the region’s future increase of population and jobs, siphon off population, and jobs from Greater Mumbai. However, the 2011 census showed that the satellite city’s population was barely 1.1 million. Hence, many housing units have remained unoccupied or with a scanty population.

The satellite city has not grown as expected due to delayed implementation of the Nhava Sheva Port, failure to shift public sector offices, inadequate transport linkages with Greater Mumbai, and problems of land acquisition, the study found.

Further, measures to bring about internal restructuring of Mumbai, such as restricting growth of industries, offices and warehouses in the island city, relocating selected wholesale markets from south Mumbai, and establishing new commercial centres outside the island city, have achieved modest success. “The inability of the satellite towns to generate the strong economic pull has led to their apparent failure,” professor Jana said.

“A trade-off is often observed between type of neighbourhood, condition of housing, built-up area, connectivity of different services, and opportunity and cost. In this regard, Navi Mumbai should have flourished, if it had seamless connectivity with major central business districts of Mumbai,” he said.

The study also said the cost of starting out in Navi Mumbai is not significantly cheaper than Mumbai. Navi Mumbai needs to create its own identity, and cannot be left in the shadow of Mumbai, professor Jana said. “One would rather chose Mumbai, which has a unique identity as a global city, rather than Navi Mumbai. Therefore, incentivising development in Navi Mumbai might be necessary.”

In this case, planners have missed an opportunity. “When we thought a satellite town would solve the problem of housing, we didn’t think of what we wanted it to look like in future: the second largest town in Maharashtra? Asia’s biggest economic hub?” he said.

The study also said an excessive focus on showcasing concretisation, rather than creating suitable living conditions, may create an imbalance in the urban system, leading to phantom urbanisation and the creation of ghost cities. It said enforcing policies to control the speculative purchase of houses and land, designating new towns as potential sites for affordable housing, implementing sound public-private partnership models, and mandating a percentage of housing units at affordable prices in new development areas can help solve the housing crisis.