Mumbai Has 2 Lakh Vacant Houses, Then What Explains the Slums?

Mumbai Vacant Houses: Tune in to our podcast ‘Land of a Billion’ as we unpack Mumbai’s housing paradox.

Former Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan (left) and Tata Institute of Social Sciences’ Dr Amita Bhide.

(Photo: Aman Verma/The Quint)

Two out of every five people in Mumbai live in slums today. The sight of large clusters of blue tarped sheets over tinned walls is one that Indians are largely familiar with, just as we are familiar with the stories of slum residents’ vulnerability to fires, forced evictions, and in recent times, the COVID-19 pandemic.

Why do we have such a large population of Mumbai living in slums, even though Mumbai has over two lakh houses lying vacant? How does the government cope with the dilemma of condoning illegal squatters while also having the mandate to provide welfare for the poor?

In the first episode of The Quint’s new podcast series, ‘Land of a Billion’, we look at Mumbai’s housing crisis as we speak with Prithviraj Chavan, former Chief Minister of Maharashtra and a current member of Legislative Assembly, and Dr Amita Bhide, Professor and Dean of School of Habitat Studies, Centre for Environmental Health, Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Mumbai.

Tune in now!

What should you expect from this podcast series? ‘Land of a Billion’ brings you expert conversations about the most contentious of the holy roti-kapda-makaan trinity – the makaan over our heads, and the larger ecosystem that governs it. From administrative tussles to understanding the conflicts on ground, catch these episodes every alternate Monday for a rundown on the latest charcha around land and property rights in India.

Hosted by researcher Abhishek Shah, it is a fortnightly podcast series produced in association with the Property Rights Research Consortium.

Don’t forget to catch the next episode, where we’ll have a senior bureaucrat from the Ministry of Panchayati Raj talking about one of the big-ticket schemes in land and property rights this year, the SVAMITVA Scheme.