The demand for housing has not diminished

In the June-July issue of 2016 (issue # 323-324), Auroville Today reported on 12 housing projects which were under construction. Today, all of these have been finished and 228 new houses and apartments have been added. [see box]. However, the housing requirement is as large as ever. Over the past three years there has been an average annual increase of 175 people, which means that Auroville needs to build about 70-80 new houses or apartments each year. But we are facing a backlog: today, there are 200 newcomers looking for housing.

Two years ago, many projects were under construction. But today, there are far fewer. One of the reasons is that quite a few architects and project developers who were the project holders for large projects have experienced bum-out after finishing their project. For they were in charge with everything, from making the design, to finding clients, to supervising the construction and ensuring the finances.

Those who want to start a construction today face delays in getting the required internal permissions. They have first to ensure site permission, then building permission: site locations, drawings and estimates are scrutinized and the financial feasibility of the project is studied. The community is given an opportunity to comment and object at -each phase. These are the reasons why many permissions are being delayed.

A Housing Development Group is needed

The ad-hoc developments of the past are no longer sufficient. The future of housing in Auroville can no longer depend on the goodwill of individual promoters. The community needs to create a Housing Development Group whose job is to start planning Auroville's future housing requirement over say the next five years, determine how this is going to be financed, and take responsibility for its manifestation. And long before any project is submitted, the Town Development Council needs to plan and allocate plots where new housing can be located, determine the density and height of the buildings for each plot and invite community feedback. Only in this way can we can speed up the building of new houses and apartments.

The Housing Development Group should also take responsibility for finding the required funds for new housing. It is reliably estimated that only one third of those who join Auroville have the means to pay for their house or apartment. The next third can pay over a period of time as they do not have the full amount or do not want to invest all their savings in a house; and the last third has very little or no money. The people who have money are usually above 40 years old, those who can pay over a period of time are in the range of 35-45, but those younger than 35 usually have little or no financial means. But Auroville can only grow and develop when young people join. We need to .develop schemes for the middle group, and for those who have no money at all. We have to create houses financed from grants and donations. From the 200 people now looking for housing, 120 have limited or no funds,

We need very diverse accommodation. There is 'lifestyle' accommodation required by people who have money. For people who have insufficient funds for a large house we need incremental housing - housing which can be expanded over the course of years. We should also encourage pioneers to settle and protect outlying lands; and we need to accelerate further our experimentation in housing. We need hostels, studios and apartments for young families. For each there could be a separate source of funding. 

While the Housing Development Group should be the 'client body' for all housing funded from collective community funds and donations, such as from the Government of India grant, individual initiatives should remain untouched. The possibility of individuals coming together to develop new projects should be encouraged to ensure diversity, creativity and individuality and prevent over-centralization.

Raising the revenue

There is a need to increase our revenue for housing development. There are various ways to do this. One is to increase our internal revenue. Most of our internal budget is allocated for the maintenance of people and assets. We need to make space for a development budget. However small to begin with, once started the energy around such a development pot will increase.

We also need to investigate how to increase revenue from people visiting Auroville and so obtain more funds for house construction. Today, about 750,000 people a year come to the Visitors' Centre and the Matrimandir. That figure will go up exponentially. The Visitors' Center offers a mix of information, shopping and culinary experience. This should be expanded. A day visit could become a transformational journey as Auroville has an amazing diversity on offer. We could build learning spaces around the Visitors' Centre, create a kind of an experiential zone with offerings like Awareness Through the Body; lectures on Integral Yoga; display, teach and sale of art; guided ecological tours; cultural interfaces; architectural journeys; short seminars and workshops, etc. All this would increase our revenue. Moreover, it would assist people in making deep connections to Auroville and creating a positive engagement. I propose that a study group is established to work this out.

The Government of India grant

Another way of raising revenue is enlarging the external fundraising. Here, the yearly Government of India grant is an important factor. Yearly, we receive between 3-4 crore rupees from the Government for housing projects. I propose that that grant is specified for housing for young people to come and experience Auroville. The question is sometimes raised why the Government of India should pay for housing in Auroville. The answer is quite simple. Auroville is an educational laboratory, a place for unending education. We are providing an incredibly large range of educational activities for children, young people, and for adults, based on the concept of life-long education which The Mother laid down in Auroville's Charter. The recipients of the education are not only the residents of Auroville but many people from outside. Every year, over 15,000 people come to Auroville for short periods to learn about water and waste management, architecture, fashion, design, organic agriculture, renewable energies, education, and so on. Some come for a few months, others would like to come for one, two or even five years. Quite a few want to take a gap year or a sabbatical. All these people need a simple apartment so they can give voluntary service to Auroville and help build the town. So, like any educational campus, Auroville needs staff housing, hostels, visiting faculty guesthouses and service apartments. 

The Government of India has explicitly acknowledged that Auroville has this aim of unending education. Four years ago, in 2014, it almost agreed to fund a very large project. This was a Sustainable Urban Habitat project, estimated at 75-80 crore rupees, to demonstrate a model for small towns and institutional campuses. This project was evaluated by various ministries and finally approved by the Indian Planning Commission, which agreed to provide the funding as this would be an example that would benefit the nation and could be replicable in other cities. But before the final OK was given, the government changed and the Planning Commission got dissolved.

In other words, continuous government support in creating an educational infrastructure which includes youth housing, is money well spent. Just compare: if the government creates a new university, its financial layout is in the order of several hundreds if not thousands of crore rupees. In Auroville, we get only 3-4 crore rupees a year for the creation of housing for the youth. Considering the high impact these funds have on the human resource development of youth from India and the world, an increase in this funding is fully justified.

The author was a former member of the Working Committee, member of the Government of India Grant Group