In a country where a large population resides in slums and informal settlements, the poor are vulnerable to eviction from land they do not own. This negatively influences people’s perception of tenure security. Tenure security is the right of people to government protection against forced eviction. The Housing and Land Rights Network based on limited data reveals that 2,60,000 people in 2018 and 2,02,000 in 2019 were forcibly evicted. 11.3 million Indians live under the threat of eviction and potential displacement. The Property Rights Index (PRINDEX), which measures perceptions of tenure security, in its 2020 report revealed that 22% of Indians feel insecure about the properties they own. Insecurity means that the poor will not invest in their housing for fear of losing their investment. They thus live in makeshift tenements called ‘kutcha houses’, in squalid conditions, often without access to services.
The study examined research from India and around the world which shows that if granted secure tenure and basic services such as water, electricity and sanitation, the poor invest in home improvements. For instance, the Slum Networking Project in Ahmedabad gave certain settlements the promise of no eviction for 10 years alongwith access to infrastructure and basic services such as water, electricity and sanitation. This resulted in 42% of slum residents investing in their homes to make them puccaor permanent structures. In settlements not covered by the program, only 24% converted kutcha homes to pucca homes. In addition to improving their homes, the poor also readily contributed 20% towards the cost of infrastructure. The Naandi foundation survey revealed that teenage girls living in permanent homes (explained by better house type – pucca, semi-pucca, and kutcha, in descending order of house quality) have much better health outcomes as compared to those who live in temporary tenements. Improved homes were found to be indicative of better access to services, such as water, sanitation and electricity. This reiterates the fact that property rights are a bundle of rights that include access to adequate infrastructure and services.