Slum development and affordable housing are the keystones in building sustainable and resilient cities. SAS 1100 “Slum area development, affordable housing and other interventions to build sustainable and resilient cities”, an initiative by ICAI, focuses on this critical aspect, ensuring access to basic amenities for all. This article delves deep into the process of social audit associated with SAS 1100 and its profound impact.
This SAS will become effective once it is posted by ICAI. It Ensure that everyone has access to basic services like safe and affordable housing, modernize energy services, and upgrade slums. Additionally, improve road safety, expand public transportation, promote waste management and prioritize the needs of those who are most vulnerable, such as physically disabled people and women.
Process of Social Audit
The SAS offers insightful advice on who the SA should contact in order to gather data for its effect assessment assignment, including but not limited to:
- Direct beneficiaries e.g., slum dwellers, users of public transport system particularly women students, older people, people with disabilities etc, resident welfare associations, communities for solid and liquid waste management etc.
- Government’s ministries and public welfare departments
- Local chambers of commerce
- Real estate associations
- Central and state level monitoring agencies
- Key program officials of the reporting entity
When conducting surveys and collecting sample data, the following factors should be considered to assess relevance and reliability:
- Designed by an in-house team or external specialized agency
- Conducted by an in-house team or external specialized agency
- Coverage: number of slums/districts/ total distance (kms) covered/modes and availability of transport system / techniques used for waste management
After data collection, the SA should thoroughly review the data, which can include conducting physical inspections and one-on-one interviews to better understand the situation.
Evaluation question
The social audit process under this SAS involves the SA asking key questions of themselves and the people involved. These questions form the foundation of the Social Impact Assessment Report. These questions could include:
- How many persons have been allotted affordable houses?
- Is there a change in living standards of slum dwellers?
- Has the quality of water supply in slums improved?
- Is there a change in sanitation standards?
- Is there a change in living area, per capita space?
- Is housing structure durable? How is the quality of construction?
- How accessible is the public transport system?
- Is there improvement in slum’s surrounding due to improved ways of solid waste management?
The following topics may be covered in such inquiries on the development of slum areas, cheap housing, and other measures to create sustainable and resilient cities:
A. Composition of participants
- Whether the program objectives were found to be consistent with the requirements of the slum dwellers, people in need of transport who are in vulnerable situation, communities requiring efficient solid waste management and modern energy service, and aimed to resolve problems faced by them?
B. Standard of living
- How is the quality of living of slum dwellers that were given affordable houses under the project?
- Were the participants satisfied with the quality of houses and living standards?
- How is the exposure to serious health risks? Has it improved or changed?
C. Affordable housing, transportation, waste management
- Has the access to affordable housing improved access to credit and the formal job market due to stigmatization and discrimination and to geographic isolation?
- Has the access to safe, affordable, accessible, and sustainable transport system available to slum dwellers?
- How the road safety improved, is there a decline in road accidents?
- How is the quality of water and sanitation and improvement in solid and liquid waste management?
D. Socio-economic factors
- What impact did the program have on a person’s life after shifting to affordable housing and other developments in slum areas?
- Has the crime rate decreased in slums areas?
- Have the safety standards of beneficiaries have increased after receiving benefits from the program?
E. Suggestions and feedback
- What were the constraints or challenges faced in slum development and providing affordable housing?
- What were the challenges faced in improving the transportation system, waste management techniques?
Likewise, there are many other questions that need to be identified by the SA.
Key Metrics: Framing and Assessment
The SA will follow the results of this evaluation in coming to their report’s conclusion. They will be able to evaluate the performance of the social enterprise based on its social impact after collecting all the data and analyzing the important parameters. These grading inquiries could cover the following topics:
- What would have happened in the absence of the intervention?
- How much has the project contributed to the changes that are evidenced?
- Is there any unintended negative impact that happened due to the intervention?
Regarding the beneficiaries covered by the survey, such information regarding supporting slum area development, affordable housing, and other interventions to promote sustainable and resilient cities may include the following points:
A. Composition of participants
- Social background of the beneficiaries – e.g., age & gender categories, financial condition, employment status
- Location of slums (on pavements, tracks, steep slopes, distant from jobs)
- Access to urban services (especially water, sanitation, and transport, waste management techniques)
B. Standard of living
- Availability of basic facilities (safe drinking water, adequate sanitation, energy for cooking,
- heating, lighting, food storage or refuse disposal)
- Quality of water supply (piped water, public tap, spring water, bore hole tube well)
- Kitchen Ventilation and clean fuel
- Quality of sanitation facilities (flush/pour-flush toilets or latrines connected to a sewer, septic tank or pit; ventilated improved pit latrine; pit latrine with a slab or platform which covers the pit entirely; and composting toilets/latrines.)
C. Affordable housing, transportation waste management
- Structural quality/durability of dwellings
- Security of tenure (a legal status against arbitrary unlawful eviction, harassment as well as any other threats. Statutory or customary law or informal or hybrid arrangements that safeguard the house members against forced evictions).
- Road safety and transportation (number of accidents, fatal and non-fatal, frequency of buses, rails, metro during peak and non-peak hours
D. Socio-economic factors
- Access to better schools
- Access to better jobs
- Reduction in crime rate
- Access to public transport
E. Other factors
- Community development
- Clean and improved cities
- Healthy city and slums environment
- Amenities/resources provided
- Impact on indirect beneficiaries.
Assessment of evaluation criteria
The Social Auditor needs to recognize evaluation criteria of both Qualitative and Quantitative for assessing the impact.
Some key aspects that can be considered as evaluation criteria are listed below:
Quantitative
A. Internal process
- Percentage of houses which are kutcha
- Percentage of houses which are semi pucca
- Percentage of households not covered with piped water supply
- Percentage of households not covered with individual toilets
- Percentage of length not covered with pucca drains
B. Project beneficiaries
- of beneficiaries from deprived/disadvantaged sections of society, rural or backward areas to total beneficiaries
- The number of people evicted in the largest mass eviction that took place in the greater municipality in the last three years
C. Housing ownership, eviction and resettlement
- Number of women owning the affordable houses
- Rooms per person, overcrowding rate, housing depriving rate
- Estimated percent of all the properties in the municipality that have their title properly registered
- Was violence involved in eviction?
D. Means of housing financing and Government subsidies
- The inflation rate last year (%)
- Residential mortgage debt as percentage of GDP
- Interest rates and mortgage availability
- Availability of low-cost home ownership products
E. Infrastructure services
- Water and electricity services
- Police and fire protection
- Transport system
- Garbage collection and waste management
F. Energy efficiency of housing
- Percentage of households electrified
- Percentage of LPG+PNG connections against number of households
- Cost of energy to average income of the beneficiaries
Qualitative
A. Improvement in standard of living
- Ownership of house
- Availability of water, electricity, and sanitation facilities
- Family size and household density
B. Improvement in Social conditions –
- Improvement in social status and social acceptance, social prestige among neighbours, gaining respect in the society.
C. Improvement in Health conditions
- Availability of potable water at home
- Availability of sanitation facility
- Satisfaction with the availability of good, healthcare facilities at affordable price
D. Improvement in living standards
- Program helped the slum dwellers have access to constructed house
- The beneficiaries influenced others
- Quality of neighbourhood
- Is there a process or program to recognize occupancy of public land? For example, certificates of occupancy, street addressing, or other official documents are given to informal settlers.
Challenges/ Areas for improvement
Based on their suggestions and input, which may have an impact on the impact assessment, the stakeholders’ difficulties and areas for improvement should be identified by the social auditor.
- Lack of sufficient living area
- Lack of affordable land in main cities and pushing these projects to rural or pre-urban areas, leads to increases the need for connectivity and reduces the cost of affordable housing scheme.
- Lack of housing durability or the inferior construction quality.
- The Government has started several finance schemes for slum dwellers; however, the lack of financial literacy prevents them from enjoying these benefits.
- Increasing cost of ownership due to lack of affordable land, local taxes & stamp duties and increase in cost of constructions.
Limitations
- Cases of no-response in case the questionnaire is not administered in person and lower literacy levels amongst slum dwellers
- Some of the questions being skipped by the respondents and remaining unanswered
- Non-availability of respondents due to relocation to other places
- Change in contact details of respondents due to which they could not be contacted
Any significant challenges or limitations observed must be highlighted by the SA in their report.
My Remarks,
Affordable housing is a dream for all and if we want to become a developed society, we need to eradicate the evil of homelessness. Social Sector needs to step up effort for this and being a social auditor, it is important for us to know whether the social enterprise utilising the funds properly in this regard as well what is the impact of their efforts on the lives of the public.
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