Reflections on over 100 years of urban housing policies in Sri Lanka

16 Thushara Samaratunga et al.: <strong>Reflections</strong> on over 100 years of urban housing policies in Sri Lankademonstrates the clear influence of socialist political parties.It was initially viewed as a positive and ‘pro-poor’ program,however the end result was the decline of private sectorinvestment in housing supply. When Bandaranayakee’sgovernment lost power in 1976, the policy was withdrawn[12].Another important piece of legislation that was enactedalmost parallel to the Apartment Ownership Law of 1973,was the Common Amenities Board Law No. 10 of 1973,which required the establishment of the Common AmenitiesBoard. The Common Amenities Board was empowered withresponsibility to control, manage, maintain and administerthe common amenities and common elements of residentialand non-residential units of condominium properties [11].There were three main components of the government’sprogram: the Aided Self-Help Housing; Model Villages; andFisheries Housing. The Aided Self-Help programme (ASH)was another creative housing program that was specificallytargeted to middle-class people. The ASH was introduced in1972, and stated that the government would meet the cost ofthe land, building materials and certain necessary servicesrequired for a low-cost house while the buyer provided thelabour. An interest free 20- to 25-year loan covered the costof building materials, while a normal ground rent wascharged for the land. Model Villages and Fisheries Housingwere intended almost exclusively for the rural poor. Thisapproach enabled the government to effect considerablereductions in the cost of low-income housing units andspread the benefits of public sector investment over a largernumber of beneficiaries. More importantly, these programscontributed to community participation and consequently tocommunity development [13]5. Housing Policy (1977-1983)The 1970–1976 socialist political strategies were notpopular in Sri Lanka and many people were frustrated withthe radical decisions made by Bandaranayakee’s government.The 1977 election was dominated by the United NationalParty, who won with a 5/6 majority. Economic reform,social welfare and housing were the key election promisesmade by the new government and, as promised, open economicpolicy was introduced in 1978. The government wasalso concerned about the provision of houses to the lowerand middle-income groups in urban and rural areas.Ranasinha Pramadasa was the Prime Minister and HousingMinister of the new government during this period. Headopted several outstanding housing policies and projectsand undertook significant institutional reform while he wasin power. The popularity and success of the welfare policiesimplemented in this time paved the way for his election asPresident of Sri Lanka in 1989[10]. During this period,housing policy was not developed in isolation - it took placewithin the context of overall city development [14]. Toachieve the target set by the government, the Urban DevelopmentAuthority (UDA) and the National Housing DevelopmentAuthority (NHDA) were established in 1978 and1979 respectively. The programs implemented by the governmentduring its 17 years of power were the Hundred ThousandHouses Program (1978-1983), the Million Houses Program(1984-1989) and the 1.5 Million Houses Program(1989-1994). Ranasinghe Premadasa understood that problemswith housing are a global issue, and proposed to theUnited Nations General Assembly in 1980 that 1987 bedeclared as the ‘International Year of Shelter for theHomeless’ [15].6. The Hundred Thousand Houses Program(1977–1983)The Hundred Thousand Houses Program was the firstinitiative of the UNP Government. The newly establishedNational Housing Development Authority (NHDA) led theprogram. 50,000 houses were built in rural areas through theaided self-help method. Another 30,000 houses (includinghigh-rises for the middle class) were built in urban areasthrough direct construction by the private sector. The remaininghouses were targeted at the urban poor in Colombothrough a slum and shanty upgrading component headed bythe Urban Development Authority (UDA). Following thesuccess of the Hundred Thousand Houses Program, thegovernment introduced the One Million Houses Program,hoping the new expanded program would be even moresuccessful than the previous one as it could draw from theexperience gained in the development and construction ofthe previous project [16].7. One Million Houses Program –“Housing For All” (1984-1989)In 1984, the Government initiated the Million HousesProgram (MHP). The National Housing Development Authority(NHDA) was in charge of the massive nationwideprogram. The program consisted of six sub-programs coveringrural and urban areas, the private sector, plantationhousing and major resettlement projects [16]. After the earlysuccess of the first rural housing sub-programme in 1984,the urban sub-programme, consisting of about 300 housingprojects in 51 local authority areas, was launched in 1985.The MHP was notable because all the procedural mechanismswere completely institutionalised by the governmentof Sri Lanka through a national policy. The nationalpolicy encouraged the local governments, community organisationsand the beneficiary groups to make decisionsregarding the housing development at their respective levels(NHDA 1984). A main feature of the MHP was the minimumintervention and maximum support provided by thegovernment and maximum involvement of the builder families[16]. The Urban Development Authority (UDA),meanwhile, carried out an urban slum and shanty upgradingprogram.The MHP was an important initiative because it was acommunity-centred, participatory housing program admi-