A housing society that plans together stays safe together

The urban areas in India continue to expand and become denser due to both in-migration and natural growth. In cities, this large population growth is usually absorbed into multi-story apartments in cooperative housing societies registered under the State Law. Nav Yuwan housing society in Mira Road neighborhood of Mumbai is one such cooperative housing society which houses over 280 families. Through cooperation and social networks, the residents of the society successfully restored the safety of their housing through repairs with technical support from the Aga Khan Agency for Habitat.

Community-based and participatory housing organized under the cooperative housing model, promotes democratic values based on the participation of all stakeholders. It reflects a step beyond housing provision and demonstrates a new culture with a socially oriented approach to living. The quality of housing is determined by the effectiveness of the managing committee to work towards a common goal of safe housing with the consent, consideration, and participation of its members. Indeed, better quality housing enhances the quality of life of its inhabitants.

A cooperative is an institutional framework that brings together individuals with similar needs into a community with shared values. It represents democratic participation, solidarity, and principles of self-help and familial care values. With this mandate AKAH, India has been guiding housing societies & individual housing to address their maintenance and improvement needs through awareness and technical support for repairs, retrofitting, rainwater harvesting, and solarization.

An opportunity to take actions to address the repair and restore work of the housing society came in with Project Abhilasha – which aimed at building the capacity of managing committees of housing societies, supporting communities to plan and implement projects to address their most urgent needs and address their unique challenges collectively. One such awareness session was conducted at Nav Yuwan Co-operative Society in September 2018 which motivated the managing committee to take proactive action for society repairs and restoration. Constructed in 1995, Nav Yuwan society and since then underwent minor repairs along with regular maintenance and management of records.

The simple yet crucial repairs implemented in Nav Yuvan Society stemmed from a remarkably detailed vulnerability assessment of the housing conducted in January 2019, which was compiled and discussed with the members for their understanding of the level of repairs required. From the process of collective decision-making to initiating repairs to the completion of it has many milestones and learnings for all housing societies.

Much of the work in the building and construction industry is done without agreements and documentation with an apprehension to enter legal contracts. However, with support and guidance of AKAH India on the insistence of AKAH to follow quality construction standards Nav Yuwan invited bids for the repair works to select the most suited available agency in Mumbai. It was a collaborative process in which all members of housing society passed a formal resolution in the general body meeting to do repairs with professional support of AKAH India as a project management consultant. This was done to ensure that the repair work is carried out with all safety standards. The managing committee unanimously agreed to collaborate with AKAH India to conduct the due diligence of the contractor and engage in an agreement as prepared by the organization. The organization successfully completed the repairs of all 10 buildings with quality restoration.

Cooperative housing models or Participatory approaches to housing offer practical, collaborative, and community-driven solutions to housing problems related to repair and upgrading. This approach gave nearly every household in society the opportunity to plan and implement some collective improvements to their common infrastructure. By turning individuals into active members of society, participatory-based planning not only facilitates internal processes of housing management and relations, but also contributes to strengthening the sense of community and responsibility for its well-being.