Social Audit Standards (SAS) 1100
Slum area development, affordable housing and other interventions to build sustainable and resilient cities
(SAS 1100 should be read in conjunction with the “Preface to the Social Audit Standards” and
“Framework for the Social Audit Standards”, issued by the ICAI)
SECTION I – INTRODUCTION
Objective and Scope
1.10 This Social Audit Standard relates to the thematic area of “Slum area development, affordable housing and other interventions to build sustainable and resilient cities”. The Standard aims to provide the Social Auditor with the necessary guidance about independent impact assessment engagement of Social Enterprises engaged in promoting slum area development, affordable housing, and other interventions to build sustainable and resilient cities and the audit steps and procedures that should be applied while conducting the social impact assessment. The Standard sets out the minimum requirements to be followed while conducting impact assessment. Laws or Regulations may establish additional requirements which should be followed as applicable.
SECTION II – PROCESS OF SOCIAL AUDIT
Data Collection
1.20 The stakeholders that may be approached for obtaining data include:
> 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
The overall activity of conducting a survey and collecting sample data should be reviewed in terms of the following factors 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
Desk Review
1.30 The Social Auditor should conduct a desk review of existing documents to gain further insight into the evaluation procedure and impact assessment. Before doing the desktop review the Social Auditor may visit the targeted slums or affordable housings to get an understanding of the ground issues and challenges. Such documents, about slum area development, affordable housing and other interventions to build sustainable and resilient cities may include the following:
General Documents
- Statistical Books and Publications
- Special reports (published by credible and reliable agencies) on the income and living conditions of slum dwellers
- Survey reports of the local Non-Government Organization’s (NGO’s) working in the area
- National Slum Development Program (NSDP)
- Integrated Housing & Slum Development Programme
Social Audit Standards
- Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojna Guidelines
- City Development Plan
Programme Specific: - List of slum dwellers that were allocated houses during the period
- Registration documents of allocated affordable houses
- Identification records (Aadhar card, ration cards of slum dwellers /house owners)
- Interviews and feedback form of slum dwellers
- Construction records (overall budget, comparison with actual project cost, underlying supporting documents and records
- Project advertisement – leaflets/newspaper
- Selection criteria followed for allocating houses to slum dwellers
- Application form for house allotment
- Photographs of affordable houses and facilities given to residents Inspection & Personal Interviews
1.40 Besides desk review, the Social Auditor should also consider conducting physical inspection and personal interviews to get first hand assessment of impact.
Evaluation Questions
1.50 The Social Auditor should review the evaluation questions addressed through Questionnaires, In-depth interviews, and Focused Group Discussions to assess the responses received from various stakeholders and to understand what has changed. This would help the Social Auditor in forming his views on the following aspects:
- 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?
- Is there a change in security level and reduction in crimes rate amongst slum dwellers?
Such questions, in relation to slum area development, affordable housing and other interventions to build sustainable and resilient cities, may cover the following aspects:
(a) Composition of the 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 quality of water and sanitation and improvement in solid and liquid waste management?
- How is the exposure to serious health risks? Has it improved or changed?
- Is there change in density in slums areas?
- Are the slum dwellers satisfied with the assessment procedure?
- Is there any improvement in public transport system and road safety?
(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 has the transport service improved for people requiring special attention and are in vulnerable situation like women, children disabled persons and older population?
- Are the slum dwellers satisfied with their current standard of living?
- Any new technology or technique deployed for 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?
- Has the safety standards of beneficiaries have increased after receiving benefits from the program?
- Has the slum development and affordable housing has improved the well-being of the participants?
- How improvement in transportation system has impacted the lives of daily commuters (introduction of Metro services, less overcrowding in local buses/trains/ technology?
- What is the impact of waste management on the surroundings of urban, peri-urban and rural areas?
(e) Suggestions / 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?
Social Audit Standards
Key Metrics for Evaluation of Project/ Program
1.60 The Social Auditor should review the project/ program documents to frame the evaluation criteria for assessing impact. Such key metrics may be collated from base-line, mid-line (monthly/quarterly) and end-line assessment (if available), respectively at the beginning, middle and end of the reporting period/ project/ program to effectively understand and evaluate the impact.
The evaluation of the project/ program information would facilitate the Social Auditor to assess:
- 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?
Such information, about promoting slum area development, affordable housing and other interventions to build sustainable and resilient cities, may include the following points in respect of the beneficiaries covered under the survey:
(a) Composition of the 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)
- Shelter from the elements (weather and natural or man-made hazards)
- Mode of energy used by the beneficiaries
- Selection process of the slums or slum dwellers and identification of their problems and needs
(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
- 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.)
- Sufficiency of living area for the household members
- Distance from local schools or government aided education institutions
- Proximity to health care facilities (Employees’ State Insurance (ESI) hospital or local dispensary)
- General health and well-being of occupants
- Reduction in slum area in urban areas and density of slums
- Waste management techniques
(c) Affordable housing, transportation waste management
- Structural quality/durability of dwellings
- built on a non-hazardous location
- permanency of structure (permanent building material for the walls, roof and floor; compliance with building codes,
- location of house (not located on or near toxic waste, in a flood plain, not located on a steep slope, not located in a dangerous right of way of rail, highway, airport, and power lines)
- 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).
- Affordability of housing, the cost threatens or compromises the occupants’ enjoyment of other human rights.
- Location of houses adequate to provide
- employment opportunities
- healthcare services, schools, childcare centers and other social facilities, or if located in dangerous or polluted sites or in immediate proximity to pollution sources.
- Housing records (number of houses allocated, registry records of houses allocated, number of people moved from slums to affordable houses)
- Road safety and transportation (number of accidents, fatal and non-fatal, frequency of buses, rails, metro during peak and non-peak hours
- Types/size of the house provided
- Selection criteria for providing houses
(d) Socio-economic factors
- Social status of beneficiaries in slums as compared to affordable houses
- Socio-economic improvement
- Access to better schools
- Access to better jobs
- Reduction in crime rate
- Access to public transport
- Changes in socio-economic factors – acceptance / respect in the village/society, economic condition, health condition, confidence level
(e) Other Factors
- Community development
- Clean and improved cities
- Healthy city and slums environment
- Reduction in pollution levels in urban and semi-urban areas
- Amenities/resources provided
- Impact on indirect beneficiaries
Assessment of Evaluation Criteria (Illustrative Key Performance Indicators)
1.70 The Social Auditor should identify the quantitative and qualitative evaluation criteria against which the impact has to be assessed.
Such criteria for promoting slum area development, affordable housing and other interventions to build sustainable and resilient cities may broadly include any of the following aspects:
Social Audit Standards
|
S. No |
Evaluation Criteria |
| (A) | Quantitative Criteria |
| 1 | Housing and Infrastructure
a) Percentage of houses which are kutcha b) Percentage of houses which are semi pucca c) Percentage of households not covered with piped water supply d) Percentage of households not covered with individual toilets e) Percentage of length not covered with pucca drains f) Percentage deficiency of pucca road, narrow access (<3m) g) Percentage of road length without streetlights h) Percentage of households without access to facilities of disposal of solid waste |
| 2 | Project beneficiaries
a) No. of beneficiaries from deprived/disadvantaged sections of society, rural or backward areas to total beneficiaries b) The number of people evicted in the largest mass eviction that took place in the greater municipality in the last three years c) The percentage of people who were resettled or given compensation roughly equivalent to the value of their homes (%) d) Number of beneficiaries from economically weaker section, scheduled cast and scheduled tribes |
| 3 | Housing ownership, eviction and resettlement
a) Number of women owning the affordable houses b) Rooms per person, overcrowding rate, housing depriving rate c) Estimated percent of all the properties in the municipality that have their title properly registered d) Number of households living in informal settlements in the greater municipality e) Number of households living in informal settlements in the greater municipality who have titles provided by a regularization program f) The number of people evicted in the largest mass eviction that took place in the greater municipality in the last three years g) Was violence involved in eviction? h) The percentage of people who were resettled or given compensation roughly equivalent to the value of their homes |
| 3 | Income ratios
a) House price to income ratio b) Rental cost to income ratio |
| 4 | Means of housing financing and Government subsidies
a) The inflation rate last year (%) b) Residential mortgage debt as percentage of GDP c) Interest rates and mortgage availability d) Availability of low-cost home ownership products e) Is loan available for both newly built and existing houses? f) Availability of market value home ownership product g) Are there housing loans given at subsidized interest rates? h) Indicate the percentage of the housing loans lending portfolio that is in default (60 days past due) |
| 5 | Infrastructure services
Water and electricity services a) Most recent data on the percentage of the urban population in the country with access to improved water supply b) How many hours a day, on average, is water available in pipes in slums or housing settlements? c) Percent of urban population with improved sanitation d) The percentage of paved roads in the area e) The average time of the journey to work by all modes in the city f) Number of days last year that the roads in the city were flooded g) Percent of urban dwelling units with electrical connection h) Number of hours per day that electricity is available in a typical low-income settlement in the city Police and fire protection a) The share of the area of the city in neighbourhoods that are regularly patrolled by the police b) Number of murders per 1,000 people in the city last year c) Is there adequate fire protection in all neighbourhoods? Transport system a) The estimated percentage of the city within 10-minute walking distance of a public transit (bus or rail) stop b) Estimated percentage of commuters who walk to work c) Estimated percentage of journey to- work trips in the city and its environs by public transport, mini-buses and other non-private transport, excluding walking trips Garbage collection and waste management a) Percentage of the city with regular public garbage collection b) How many times a week, on average, is garbage collected from households in high-income in the city? c) How many times a week, on average, is garbage collected from households in low-income in the city? d) Percent of garbage disposed in sanitary landfills e) Percentage of wards with 100% door to door waste collection f) Percentage of individual household toilets constructed against target g) Percentage of wards with 100% source segregation h) Installed sewage treatment capacity as a percentage of sewage generated in urban areas i) Percentage of urban households with drainage facility Access to education and health care is adequate in the city a) What is the average travel time in minutes to the nearest primary school from low-income communities? b) What is the average travel time from low-income neighbourhoods to the nearest health care centre or medical facility? |
| 6 | Safety and comfort
a) Number of Safety- incidence of crime b) Presence of environmental problems c) Number of fatal accidents on roads |
| 7 | Energy efficiency of housing
a) Percentage of households electrified b) Percentage of LPG+PNG connections against number of households c) Cost of energy to average income of the beneficiaries d) Percentage of MSW processed to the total MSW generated |
| (B) | Qualitative Criteria |
| 1 | Improvement in standard of living–
Change in standard of living of beneficiaries and have better facilities. The following indicators may be used to assess the same: a) Ownership of house b) Availability of water, electricity, and sanitation facilities c) Family size and household density d) Facilities and services
|
| 2 | Improvement in Social conditions – Improvement in social status and social acceptance, social prestige among neighbours, gaining respect in the society. |
| 3 | Improvement in Health conditions
The following indicators may be used to assess the same: a) Availability of potable water at home c) Availability of sanitation facility c) Satisfaction with the availability of good, healthcare facilities at affordable price |
| 4 | Improvement in living standards
The following indicators may be used to assess whether: a) Program helped the slum dwellers have access to constructed house b) The beneficiaries influenced others c) Quality of neighbourhood d) 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. e) Is the occupation of public land permissible? f) 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. g) How long in advance of the actual eviction were people first informed? h) Any subsidies provided by government for water supply or energy distribution i) Provision for garbage collection from the colony and cleanliness of roads |
SECTION III – ASSESSMENT OF CHALLENGES AND LIMITATIONS
Challenges/Areas for improvement
1.80 The Social Auditor should identify the challenges faced by the stakeholders and the areas for improvement based on the suggestions and feedback received from them, which might influence the impact assessment. Some of the examples of commonly faced issues about promoting slum area development, affordable housing, and other interventions to build sustainable and resilient cities may include the following:
- 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.
Any significant issues observed during the assessment, that may influence the user of the Impact Assessment in decision making, should be highlighted by the Social Auditor in the Social Audit report.
Limitations of the assessment
1.90 The Social Auditor should identify the inherent limitations of the evaluation process which might influence the impact assessment. Some of the examples of promoting slum area development, affordable housing and other interventions to build sustainable and resilient cities:
- 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 limitation observed during the assessment, that may influence the user of the Impact Assessment in decision making, should be highlighted by the Social Auditor in the Social Audit report.
SECTION IV – APPENDIX
Taxonomic classification of areas and sub-areas for social objectives
(relating to Slum area development, affordable housing and other interventions to build sustainable and resilient cities)
|
Sr. No. |
Areas | Sub Areas |
| 11 | Slum area development, affordable housing and other interventions to build sustainable and |
|
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