Why is Housing Unaffordable in Pakistani Cities?

I talk to Fizzah Sajjad about why affordable housing in Pakistani cities remains an elusive policy dream. We talk about the reasons why there is so much unmet demand for housing, about the harms of speculative investment in housing, and how the Naya Pakistan Housing Program falls short of its objectives. Fizzah also draws on her comparative expertise to bring in lessons that Pakistan can learn from other countries.

Fizzah Sajjad is a PhD Candidate in Human Geography and Urban Studies at the London School of Economics, where she's currently doing research on speculative practices in real estate. FIzzah is an MIT-trained urban planner, and has been working in this space for almost ten years both as a researcher and a practitioner.

Some links to what we talked about:

• The official website of the Naya Pakistan Housing Program.
• Fizzah references this UCLG report on Rethinking Housing Policies when discussing housing policy lessons from other countries.
• The Invisible Cities blog on Tanqeed that Fizzah used to work on. She references this post by Smita Rawoot in particular.

Fizzah's recommendation:

• A free online course by Gautam Bahn: ‘Housing Justice: A View from Indian Cities’