Abstract
This paper presents findings from a study on urban poor housing in Dhaka city. Dhaka is a burgeoning mega city and capital of Bangladesh with population of over 12 million, 30 percent of which lives in informal settlements and is classified as urban poor. To make housing programs accessible to the urban poor, the apportioned cost must be affordable to them. As the resources of Government are meager, housing programs can only be sustained if aimed at full cost recovery. This study seeks to contribute to a sustainable approach of affordable housing for the urban poor by reviewing existing housing situation and supply trend. With a particular reference to ′Bhashantek Rehabilitation Project (BRP)′, devised to house 80,000 urban poor, it addresses aptness of the project based on ′affordability′, ′cost recovery′ and ′replicability′ concepts. The study revealed that the foreseeable outcome of the project has a clear disparity with its aim which might not contribute well to curve the housing dearth. Later, the study approaches the concept of tenement apartments for the impoverished city dwellers. Study results expose the preeminence of tenement apartments by admitting the trilogy which is affordable, capital recoverable and sustainable to replicate housing.
