Mainstreaming sustainable social housing in India: findings and insights from the MaS-SHIP project

As the Government of India aims to construct 12 million social housing dwelling units through the Housing for All by 2022 programme, the pressure to deliver in a timely, and cost-effective way, will increase. It is vital to identify what the impacts and benefits of housing production at such a massive scale and speed could be, especially when currently sustainability is not effectively mainstreamed in social housing projects.

This report describes the wider context, objectives, methodology and findings of a two-year research project entitled MaS-SHIP. Funded by the United Nations Environment’s Sustainable Buildings and Construction programme of the 10 Year Framework Programme. MaS-SHIP has produced a comprehensive data framework, tools, evidence-based knowledge, insights and policy recommendations for mainstreaming sustainable social housing in India. A socio-technical approach was adopted in the research, bringing together primary and secondary data collection with both quantitative and qualitative assessments, using literature review, stakeholder engagement, online and field surveys, statistical tests and thermal simulations. The construction and policy ecosystem were examined to identify barriers and opportunities in adopting sustainable building materials and related design and construction practices, so as to develop policy recommendations.

First, MaS-SHIP created a framework of 18 attributes in collaboration with developers, practitioners and academics to measure the performance of 17 established and emerging building systems, against four criteria, including resource efficiency, operational performance, user experience, and economic impact. The findings were collated into catalogues for each material, while the methodology for calculating the mix of qualitative and quantitative attributes were developed into a new data framework.

The multiplicity of attributes required rationalized valuations relative to each other. To establish consistency, inputs of a representative sample of housing experts in India were invited to weigh each attribute. That is, a widely accepted Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) was applied to survey 200 experts including project consultants, private and public housing providers, academics, manufacturers, and building practitioners.

New information was revealed on residents’ experience with building materials and systems. Large-scale surveys showed that residents also influence the demand for sustainable materials - they were found to prefer less resource and operationally inefficient materials such as English-bond brickwork because such an option affords them greater flexibility to make in house adjustments such as nailing wall-hangings. Many residents also raised grievances about factors such as discomfort because of inadequate ventilation, and their homes being located away from employment opportunities.

A key output from MaS-SHIP research has been the creation of the Decision Support Toolkit (DST), an interactive and online toolkit comprising a range of outputs, datasets, tools and insights that can help prospective users in choosing sustainable building materials and making and monitoring sustainable design interventions and construction practices in social housing projects. The DST not only addresses the absence of a comprehensive measurement framework to assess sustainable materials, but also includes design guidelines to ensure sustainability is embedded at the conception stage of a housing project. Through the development of a Sustainability Assessment Tool (SAT), it fills missing data that is needed to quantify the performance, and using Material mapping application, spatially maps the availability of sustainable building systems options. As a key component of the DST, SAT has the capability to measure the relative performance of building materials and systems for social housing projects that do not exceed four stories, using the framework of 18 attributes. Filling these knowledge gaps can assist in prioritizing sustainability considerations in housing policy and implementation.

Finally, based on the research findings, the following recommendations are made for mainstreaming sustainability into social housing projects in India:

• Develop an Overarching Sustainable Housing Policy Framework that integrates resource and energy efficiency considerations with socio-economic parameters in urban contexts.

• Develop a data collection strategy to fill missing information on factors such as job creation potential for new technologies, based on interventions such as instituting mandatory disclosure, funding primary data collection efforts, and developing a centralized, open source database for constant updating.

• Incorporate sustainability requirements in state procurement guidelines as conditions for developers to win social housing contracts.

• Provide supply side subsidies and tax breaks to incentivize private financing and construction of sustainable social housing.

• Develop awareness programs for developers with a focus on sensitizing such actors to potential convergences between cost and efficiency considerations, with environmental benefits. Identify key materials and design practices that achieve such goals and link them to its potential benefit for their prospective customers – the residents of social housing dwellings.

• Systematically develop training programs and educational materials on sustainability which should be made available to urban local bodies.

• Develop training modules for developers, masons and unskilled construction workers to adopt better construction practices with a focus on ensuring basic design factors are implemented for resident comfort.

• Engage residents in design and planning through: awareness programs to sensitize residents to the value of sustainability and influence them to demand sustainable options from housing providers.

• Study resident needs in order to apply design changes to enhance comfort, and potentially allocate additional resources to empower residents in sustainably managing their homes.