Affordable housing improves quality of life for Barkha & her family
Safe housing remains a critical need for families like Barkha's
43-year-old labourer Barkha stands proudly on the doorstep of her pink painted one-story home in Greater Delhi, India. She lives here with her husband Uday Singh, who is employed in hotel maintenance, and their child who is studying and working. Together, Barkha and Uday Singh work hard to earn a combined household income of Rs 30,000 (USD 375) per month.
For families like Barkha’s, affordable and safe housing remains a critical need.
India, with a population of more than 1.4 billion, faces an urban housing shortage of more than 20 million houses according to the government's internal estimates, and this is expected to double by 2030.
Barkha and Uday Singh wanted to provide a stable future for their family, and a big part of this is having a permanent ‘pucca’ house made from bricks, cement and galvanised iron, with good ventilation.
Solid construction methods and materials are not only more suitable to the hot and wet weather cycles in India but are also more resilient to increasingly frequent heatwaves and flooding.
Barkha and Uday Singh had been on the lookout for financing options when they came across Sitara, an affordable housing finance company serving low-income families in urban and peri-urban areas in Northern and Western India. in March 2022, they took a home loan of Rs 3,00,000 (USD 3750) with Sitara to finance the construction of a one-story house.
Both Barkha’s family’s living standards and sense of security have greatly improved through their affordable housing loan — far more than just a roof over their heads.
Abler Nordic invested equity in Sitara in 2022, our first investment in the affordable housing space.
