Micro Home

Solutions Social
Housing Initiative
C H U TT U VA S A N T H - 2 0 1 4 A
G A N E S H V- 2 0 1 4 B 3 5
V M U RA L I - 2 0 1 4 D 4 2

Rakhi is co-founder of mHS and determined to make people and

players think more creatively about urban housing and building
inclusive cities. A Rhodes scholar and an MBA from Harvard (09)
she has many years of international development experience
with CARE, Ashoka Fellows, Grameen Bank, RABO Bank, Jeffery
Sachs office at Columbia University.

Marco Ferrario, favors minimalist, functional architecture to bring

good design where it has never been and where it is needed the
most: low-income settlements. Marco graduated from the
Politecnico di Milano in 2002 and worked as an architect in Italy,
India, Singapore and USA prior setting in Delhi with mHS.

BUILD

ENABLE

Selfconstruction
,
Incremental
Housing

Technical
R&D

In-situ
upgradation
and
redevelopm
ent

Homeless
shelters

Rental
housing

Consultation
s&
Exhibitions

Research
studies

Training

Understanding the Market

Segmenting
Segmenting housing
housing needs
needs

Where Delhi Lives

Type of Settlement

Approx population in Lakh

(2000)

JJ Clusters

20.72

Slum Designated Areas

26.64

Unauthorized colonies

7.4

Resettlement Colonies

17.76

Rural Villages

7.4

Regularized-Unauthorized
colonies

17.76

Urban Villages

8.88

Planned Colonies
Source: DUEIIP
2021

33.08

RESETTLEMENT COLONIES IN DELHI

2 million living in resettlement colonies across 66 colonies

The 100 Shelters is a crowdfunded project to fund 100

ekSHELTERS
for
homeless
families which has been made
possible through the support of
our generous donors.

Design Home Solutions

Location
Mangolpuri, Delhi
Funding Assistance
Michael & Susan Dell Foundation (MSDF)
Partner Organizations
BASIX-BSFL, Baliga Trust

Location
Saur, Tehri Valley,
Uttarakhand,India
Client and partner
organization
Due North
Year
2009 2011

Sundar Nagari Slum

Redevelopment
Location
Sunder Nagri, New Delhi
Client and Partner
Organization
Mahila Housing SEWA Trust
Year
2010 - 2011

Awards & Recognitions

Membership at the Clinton Global Initiative 2012

Financial Model
Fee for technical service model payable by the financial institution as well as
the end client
Travel and research are funded through a Ford Foundation grant
Comprehensive action research proposal made to a Foundation is under
consideration
After reaching a break-even number of households in a given city- the service
is self sustaining

mHS Operations
No Organization structure. Team of 5 including Rakhi Mehra
mHS works at 2 levels- Build and Enable
Hands-on implementation of pilots and prototypes for proof of concept
Research and consultancy services to Intl and Govt institutions that
influences policy & project design
Innovative, viable and scalable housing solutions that meet the diverse
housing needs of low-income people.

Build
Designing and implementing on-the-ground solutions for affordability
Financial models to shelters or multi-storied houses- informs them what
works and where the challenges lie
Self-construction
In-situ upgradation and redevelopment
Micro mortgage models
Homeless shelters
Rental housing

Build- in detail
Self Construction- Incremental housing

60% in tier-1 cities

Resist Gentrification
Structurally unsafe and poorly designed
Lack adequate lighting, ventilation and comfort

In-situ upgradation and redevelopment of slums

Slum free India Rajiv Awas Yojana (RAY)

mHS collaborated with Mahila Housing SEWA Trust (MHT)
Architectural and design study
2 slum blocks in Sundernagari, East Delhi

Build- in detail
Homeless Shelters
5-8 million urban homeless people in India
Majority are homeless daily wage workers unable to afford rentals in slums
Unemployed men, youth, vulnerable women and street children

Rental Housing

Needs of the urban poor vary

Many not interested in a house in the city
Some cannot afford one , many want to retain mobility
Rental housing is appropriate solution
Modest returns for owners and managers

Enable- in Detail
Technical R&D

Explores Construction technology and materials

Rationalizing costs while offering improved quality
Mangolpuri pilot study of earthquake readiness
New design for multi-storey units in seismic zones.

Research Studies
Field presence complements mHS research work
Larger enabling environment for low-income housing solutions
Worked with Ford foundation, etc to create & share knowledge about current lowincome housing mkt
Interdisciplinary skillset to propose new solutions and explore the feasibility

Enable- in Detail
Training
Training masons in low-income communities
Grounded advice to staff of financial institutions on the issue of home loans
Influencing and improving local construction practices

Consultations & Exhibitions

Many organizations work in Urban development, housing & home finance space
mHS plays an active role in facilitating discussions & one-on-one consultations
Research to capture larger policy trends
Participates in exhibitions to build awareness on relevant housing and urbanization
issues

Partners
Ashoka innovators for Public
World Bank
Michael & Susan Dell foundation
URBZ
BASIX
Yale School of Management
Mahila Housing Sewa Trust
DueNorth
Unified Traffic and Transportation Infrastructure (Planning & Engineering) Center (UTTIPEC)
Ford Foundation
Dr A.V. Baliga Trust
IGSSS - Indo Global Social Service Society

Latest Projects
ekSHELTER - 100 Shelterscampaign that will see the production and
distribution of 100 tents to homeless families in Delhi
Transit Oriented Development (2013)- East Delhi; To come up with a
financially attractive but inclusive project design; JLL, Oasis Design, SEWA
MHT and the study was presented to UTTIPEC, Delhi Development Authority
Ranchi- studied the opportunity to improve housing and living conditions in
the informal settlements of Ranchi ; SEWA MHT and Oak Foundation, UK.
mHS rooftop office- Greater Kailash, 2012
Ashoka affordable housing ratings- Assesses low-income housing on the basis
of affordability, community, construction quality & sustainability; a tool for
making housing decisions for them

Latest Projects
Design Home Solutions- conceptualized DHS to bring construction finance
and technical assistance to households; BASIX-BSFL- 15 families with 2storey construction
Assessing demand and supply of low income housing
World Bank; To assess quality and quantity of self-/incremental construction in India
Designed a typology framework across settlements
Evaluate the opportunity of providing housing finance to households in such
neighborhoods

Modular Shelter, New Delhi

Partnership with local NGO
mHS designed and constructed two modular shelters (150 persons)
Scalable model for providing sustainable, cost-effective housing to urban India's
most vulnerable population.

Latest Projects
Due North Eco-Tourism project
Promoted tourism in a beautiful rural hill station
Due North's vision is to create multiple responsible tourism
destinations
Provide villagers with an additional source of revenue.

Sundar Nagari Slum Redevelopment

RAY-slum free India
Pilot project to redevelop two slum clusters in Sunder Nagari, East
Delhi
Promoted by community-based NGO Mahila Housing SEWA Trust (MHT)

Social Impact
Status Quo
Rampant encroachment on common space & existence of precarious structures with poor sanitary
conditions, lighting, ventilation
Home improvements are carried out by borrowing from lenders; 5-20% per month

Intervention
Facilitate access to cheaper finance by collaborating with MFIs
Enables slum dwellers to efficiently use resources in designing better homes
Better housing expands their livelihood options; Making design consistent with the enterprise

Direct Impact
DHS reached 20 households with loans of about $4000-5000.
Plans to create awareness for around 1000 households through workshop for better buildings, building
regulations, water sanitation

Aim is to reach 100,000 households (500,000 people) in rapidly urbanizing cities in next 2
years

Risks Involved
Adoption risk:
End customers may not immediately value the benefits of the service
Financial capacity to pay for the additional service; Mass market opportunity with low
margins
To overcome this, mHs works with groups of existing clients to create demonstration
sites
Uses community volunteers to generate knowledge on self-building practices

Risk appetite of MFIs:

Large ticket sizes ($ 4000), long repayment period and new operating environment in
urban areas
MFI penetration is low in urban areas and the product require financial innovation both
in terms of asset-liability management, and understanding the legal environment

Risks Involved
Operational Risk:
Ability to scale-up and deliver the service across all locations- requires internal
capacity and quality control
Identifying institutions in new project locations during the assessment and
feasibility stage
Developing capacity building modules so that the financial institutions can
undertake the operating activities.

First mover disadvantage:

new market and significant investment has been made in generating awareness at
the financial intermediary level and at the client-level
Given the large ticket sizes for loans, the product design process requires
significant resource
opportunity is to work through partnership and the market is extremely large
Aims to bring the most cost efficient services to the end-client.

Expected Results
mHS aims to bring design Home solutions to over 100,000 households in 3
years, breaking even at approximately 2,500 households.
Sustainability:
Raising awareness on habitat and living conditions.
Working with community organizations and local NGOs to ensure management and
maintenance of public spaces
In three years mHS will initiate local areas planning (LAP) and mapping exercises so
residents are involved in city planning.

Access to Finance:
Although microfinance for smaller loans is accessible, higher value loans with
longer tenures are scarce.
Designing complementary services and products to enable both deeper and wider
outreach for urban clients.

Expected Results
Improved living conditions:
With better building standards, urban poor households will have safer, better
designed, more sustainable and more environment-friendly homes

Livelihood security:
Almost 70% of households involved in home-based work
Design intervention will enhance productivity and reduce unnecessary recurring
expenditure on maintenance etc.
Additional rooms, spaces can be given on rent providing both additional source of
income as well as better housing to another family.

Coordinating with local government:

mHS working with local municipality through advisory on upgradation of community
infrastructure.

SWOT ANALYSIS

Strengths:
Expertise in designing homes
Research capabilities
Technical expertise in construction &
materials
Cost minimization model
Collaboration with Govt, MFIs, etc.
Needs based solution

Weaknesses:
End clients doesnt value the benefits
Risk appetite for MFIs
Scaling up is difficult
Costs could spiral up
Resource based model

Opportunities:
Huge Market in India
Millions of people are homeless in
Urban India
Collaboration with businesses

Threats:
First mover disadvantage
New players can easily implement the
model
Big Corporates can start this model
Without MFIs, model is not feasible

Thank You