Providing Shelter To Underprivileged Under CSR
While education, health, skilling and environment have been among the popular areas attracting CSR funds, affordable housing has been missing the sight of funders. To draw corporate attention on the affordable housing sector, Habitat For Humanity on Thursday appealed corporate India to consider shelter for the underprivileged as an equally important CSR initiative.
Habitat For Humanity is a not-for profit that works towards breaking the cycle of poverty by providing affordable housing for low-income and marginalised families.
Rajan Samuel, Managing Director, Habitat for Humanity India stressed on the acute need for adequate shelter for those living at the bottom of the pyramid in India. “We want to break the cycle of widespread poverty in India. Owning a house comes as an essential step in this process,” Samuel said while speaking to The CSR Journal.
Making an appeal to the corporation he said, “It is encouraging to see a marked increase in charity contributions by India’s top philanthropists during last two years. I am also sure that 4,111 non-PSU companies (out of 7,108) and 84 PSU companies (out of 226) who have not spent anything on CSR in last two years, will start investing in India’s future soon. It will be great to observe corporates coming forward for contributing to the cause of providing shelter.”
The organisation introduced their new initiative ImPact 50-50. It envisions a long term partnership and involvement with the community and its supporters for sustainable growth and development. The initiative calls for coming together of all stakeholders following the Public-Private-People’s Partnership (4Ps) approach. The strategy is demand driven and donor driven as it offers to work in 50 districts that are in need of developmental intervention and 50 districts where the donors would like to see a transformation.
Their strategy is aligned with the national programmes- ‘Housing for All by 2022’ aimed at providing affordable homes for the families in need and ‘Swachh Bharat Abhiyan’ for eliminating open defecation in India by 2019.’
By 2022, India needs to develop 11 crore (110 million) housing units to meet the country’s vision of Housing for All. Habitat has built and repaired over 1,70,000 homes so far.
Commenting on the importance of decent shelter, Samuel emphasised, “A decent home opens the door to improved health, better performance in school, greater economic opportunities and increased community cohesion. Most indicators of the quality of life start improving when one has proper shelter. Having a decent place to live is foundational for families to thrive. Through shelter, we can empower.”
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