affordable land and housing in asia - International Union of Tenants

AFFORDABLEHOUSING ISBROADLY DEFINEDAS THAT WHICHIS ADEQUATEIN QUALITY ANDLOCATION ANDDOES NOT COST SOMUCH THAT IT PROHIBITSITS OCCUPANTS MEETINGOTHER BASIC LIVING COSTSOR THREATENS THEIRENJOYMENT OF BASICHUMAN RIGHTS. HOUSINGAFFORDABILITY, HOWEVER,IS MULTI-DIMENSIONAL ANDINVOLVES MORE THAN THEOFTEN-USED SIMPLIFIEDCONCEPTION OF THE RATIO OFHOUSE PURCHASE PRICE TOHOUSEHOLD INCOME.within a country over time, as incomes and houseprices rise and/or fall.1.4The third measure of affordability is theresidual income assessment. It is representedas a percentage of household income spent onhousing-related expenses and demonstrates ahousehold’s ability to financially service housingwithout compromising on necessary non-housingexpenditure. 46 Although there is no universallyagreed percentage, housing is generally deemedaffordable when a household spends less than30 per cent of their income on housing relatedexpenses, such as mortgage repayments (forowner-occupiers), rent payments (for tenants),and direct operational expenses such as taxes,47 48insurance and service payments, etc.STRUCTURE AND CONTENT OFTHE VOLUMEDefinitions: regional and country groupingsThe following United Nations definition of Asiancountries and regions are used throughout thispaper:Western Asia:Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Cyprus, Georgia,Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, OccupiedPalestinian Territory, Oman, Qatar, SaudiArabia, Syrian Arab Republic, Turkey, UnitedArab Emirates, Yemen.South-Central Asia:Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, IslamicRepublic of Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan,Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Tajikistan,Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan.South-Eastern Asia:Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia,Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Malaysia,Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand,Timor-Leste, Viet Nam.Eastern Asia:China, Hong Kong, SAR of China, Macao SARof China, Japan, Democratic People’s Republic ofKorea, Republic of Korea, MongoliaData sources and analysisEfforts have been made to reflect the enormousheterogeneity in the Asia region as this hasimplications for the significant differences in theprovision of housing and the types of housingpolicy responses. The analytical assessment is basedon existing information from government reports,such as recent UN-HABITAT Global Reportson Human Settlements, The State of Asian Cities2010/11. The analysis draws on comparativeevaluations on the topic carried out by majorinternational organisations and research institutesas well as country specific assessments of affordablehousing alternatives. It incorporates statisticsand housing indicators from officially publishedsources of information and international databases.Volume structurePart One provides an overview of the challengeof affordable housing in the regional context.It has provided the introductory, historical andconceptual setting for the study of affordable12PART ONE