Conference Proceedings : “JANASEVANA” National ... - UN HABITAT

1/5/2012
DEMAND FOR HOUSING IN SRI LANKA
• The Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) estimates the annual demand for
new houses to increase at the rate of 50,000 – 100,000 units
• According a report titled ‘Expanding Housing Finance to the
Underserved in South Asia’, the yearly incremental demand not being
met is roughly two thirds and the demand‐supply gap at between
350,000 – 1.5 million housing units, as of 2010
• The National Housing Development Authority (NHDA) claims that while
demand for housing may reach around 100,000 units every year, around
half this demand is met
• Official estimates put the existing demand‐supply gap at 350,000
housing units in Sri Lanka, and the overall shortage could exceed
650,000 units in 2010
• Density in Sri Lanka is an outlier at 1.1 persons per room
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WHAT IS SOCIAL HOUSING
Social housing is an umbrella term referring to rental housing which may be owned and
managed by the state, by non‐profit organizations, or by a combination of the two,
usually with the aim of providing affordable housing. It can also be seen as a potential
remedy to housing inequality
On the lines of functions of Social housing, Amzallag and Taffin (2003) classify three
approaches:
1. Institutional approach: social rentals owned and managed by social landlords
(municipal bodies, non‐profit corporations or associations), legally endorsed task to
provide affordable dwellings;
2. Public assistance approach: rentals are social whenever they get preferential land
assignments, subsidies or tax allowances or else public guarantees, mostly tied to rent
regulation, means testing, profit constraints;
3. Household resources approach: social rentals defined as “below market rent”
dwellings, open to households who cannot not satisfy their housing needs on a free
market.
This presentation focuses on the justification of social housing providers, hence the
institutional approach is given preference
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