KARACHI: Affordable housing is a distant dream for the citizens of Karachi, as 60 percent population of the megacity reside in Katchi Abadies or slums, said Pasban Democratic Party (PDP) Chairman Altaf Shakoor here Sunday.
He said the government has neglected the crucial housing sector to benefit the powerful real estate tycoons, as well as, land mafia at the cost of citizens. He said millions of people live in pathetic conditions, while rent of residential units is rising rapidly.
He said Karachi’s housing shortage is not merely a crisis, but a full-blown nightmare, a systemic failure that is fracturing the megacity’s social fabric and its economic potential.
He said with an official population exceeding 20 million—and countless more uncounted—Karachi faces a deficit of millions of housing units. The most damning indicator; however, is not the number missing, but where people are forced to live. Over 60 percent of the mega city’s residents, according to urban planning estimates, reside in informal settlements or Katchi Abadis. These are not communities of choice, but sprawling grids of necessity, often perched precariously along toxic nullahs or on disputed land.
He said the formal housing market is not just unaffordable; it is entirely divorced from the income profile of 80 percent of Karachiites. It caters to investors and the upper crust, leaving the low and middle-income groups in a perpetual state of insecurity.
He said the megacity’s land is controlled by a bewildering array of entities—the Sindh government, the Karachi Development Authority (KDA), the Malir Development Authority (MDA), the Lyari Development Authority (LDA) and military cantonments. This fragmentation breeds bureaucratic paralysis, corruption, and rampant land-grabbing.
Altaf Shakoor said real estate has become a prime vehicle for parking black money and speculative investment, inflating prices to surreal levels detached from actual utility or local incomes.
After the real estate tycoons comes the powerful land mafia that occupy lands worth trillions of rupees and establish Katachi Abadies on it.
He said there is no large-scale, publicly funded affordable housing program while projects like the Naya Pakistan Housing Programme (NPHP) make headlines; their scale and pace are negligible compared to the tidal wave of need in a megacity like Karachi.
He said the KDA for decades has not presented any major housing scheme. The LDA has failed to develop the Hawksbay Scheme 42 despite the passage of more than 40 years, while the performance of the MDA is also pathetic.
He said with no legal alternatives, citizens are forced into the informal market, where they lack tenure security, basic utilities, and are vulnerable to eviction drives and environmental disasters like floods. He said the crisis extends far beyond bricks and mortar; it is a multiplier of misery. Long, costly commutes from peripheries drain family income and time.
The constant fear of eviction causes immense psychological stress. Recent anti-encroachment drives along mega city nullahs, while framed as necessary for drainage, have highlighted the tragedy. Thousands have been rendered homeless without a viable resettlement plan, deepening distrust between citizens and the state.
He said this nightmare can be abated, but it requires political will and a fundamental shift in approach. “First, we need one unified, transparent land authority for Karachi to end the chaos; second, we must mandate inclusionary zoning, forcing private developers to include a percentage of affordable units in all projects.
Third, and most urgent, is upgrading of existing katchi abadis—granting leases and providing water, sewage, and electricity. It’s more humane and cost-effective than perpetual eviction.”
He demanded developing a viable mortgage market for low-income groups and rigorously linking new mass transit projects like the BRT lines with affordable housing corridors.
He also demanded that the KDA must announce a mega housing scheme for low income citizens and the LDA should start development work in the Hawksbay Scheme 42 while handing possession to the allottees. He said the housing crisis would further escalate if the government continued neglecting this crucial sector.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2026
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