Investigation of Sustainable and Affordable Housing Policy Principles and Formulation Adoptable in Kabul City, Afghanistan

Affordable Housing

Introduction

The academic paper, published in the Journal of Sustainable Development in 2016, tackles a critical and intertwined global challenge: the urgent need for housing that is both sustainable and affordable. While these concepts are widely discussed in architectural and environmental research, the study identifies a significant gap few studies have tested the compatibility between affordable housing and sustainable housing, particularly in conflict-ravaged, developing nations. This research zeroes in on Kabul City, Afghanistan, a location facing an acute housing crisis exacerbated by decades of war, political instability, and rapid urbanization.

Afghanistan lacks a national housing policy due to three decades of socioeconomic and political upheaval. Since 2001, the return of over three million refugees primarily to Kabul has swelled the city’s population to over 4 million. This massive influx has placed dangerous pressure on antiquated infrastructure, leading to a proliferation of informal settlements, destroyed housing stock (an estimated one million houses destroyed nationwide), and a growing chasm between housing demand and supply.

The paper notes that most government employees, teachers, and low-income citizens cannot afford housing produced under market conditions. Consequently, this research aims to create a foundational conceptual framework for an Afghan national housing policy, focusing on sustainable, affordable habitat, a living environment that supports human health (physical and psychological), satisfies shelter needs, and preserves nature for future generations.

Defining the Core Concepts: Sustainability, Affordability, and Housing Policy

The paper meticulously dissects the key terminology. Sustainable development, drawing from the Brundtland Commission Report, is defined as “meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” Sustainable housing extends beyond a physical structure; it contributes to community building, social justice, economic viability, and the psychological well-being of inhabitants. It embraces four interdependent aspects: socio-cultural, economic, technological, and environmental sustainability.

Affordable housing is generally defined as housing where the occupant pays no more than 30% of their household income. However, the paper acknowledges the term is often overused and misused, noting that affordability varies based on household consumption patterns, family size, and local economic conditions. For the context of Kabul, affordability is critical, as 85-90% of economic activities are informal, and the majority of residents are low- or medium-income earners.

A national housing policy is presented as an essential guide to delimit action, set goals, and coordinate actors in the housing sector. The paper argues that a successful policy should set a clear 10–20 year vision, be based on sound evidence, include a detailed action plan, and be accessible to the public. Crucially, such a policy must be integrated with poverty reduction, socioeconomic development, and climate change mitigation.

The Conceptual Framework for Sustainable-Affordable Housing

The paper’s core contribution is a detailed conceptual framework that balances four pillars of sustainability, which are visually represented in figures throughout the document (Figures 1, 2, and 7). This framework is designed to be adaptable for evaluating existing housing issues in Kabul and formulating guidelines for new projects.

  1. Socio-Cultural Sustainability: This pillar emphasizes that shelter is not just a physical need but a source of identity, dignity, and psychological well-being. The design and materials must correspond to the user’s culture, traditions, and way of living (e.g., Afghanwali, or Afghan customs). Key criteria include:

    • Adaptability: Housing must be flexible to accommodate changing family sizes and needs.

    • Equality: Housing should not segregate people based on income, religion, or ethnicity.

    • Integration of Amenities: Essential services (schools, mosques, medical facilities) must be integrated into settlements.

    • Beneficiary Participation (Self-Help): Drawing on John Turner’s laws, the paper advocates for user participation in building or designing homes to ensure they meet actual needs.

    • Community Participation: Social capital (networks and relationships) is a key component of sustainability. In Afghanistan, achieving privacy between neighbors, genders, and family members is identified as a major social challenge in housing design.

  2. Economic Sustainability (Affordability): Economic growth is key to providing the means for shelter. However, the paper argues that financial assistance alone is insufficient. Affordable housing programs must be linked to employment generation and income enhancement. The most important financial resource is the savings of the inhabitants. Prerequisites for economic sustainability include access to land, resources, and basic infrastructure. The paper provides a detailed affordability analysis, including a ratio test formula (mortgage repayment to income ratio) and tables (Tables 1-4) proposing legal reforms, mortgage market development, and microfinance options. For example, an analysis shows poor borrowers could afford a 12-month loan of $500–$1,000 for home improvements, while middle-income borrowers could afford a 5-year construction loan of $8,000.

  3. Technological Sustainability: Technology is sustainable if it uses local resources, unskilled labor, and locally available materials without heavy capital investment. It must be feasible, functional, strong, durable, reliable, and environmentally friendly. Given that conventional building materials (cement, steel) are often imported and unaffordable, the paper urges the search for alternative, locally appropriate technologies. This includes utilizing waste materials and reducing the depletion of natural resources. The document references that building construction consumes 40% of raw stone, gravel, and sand globally, highlighting the need for change.

  4. Environmental Sustainability: This pillar addresses resource limits, efficient consumption of non-renewable resources, and minimizing pollution. Key objectives include:

    • Resource Management: Minimizing non-renewable energy and promoting water recycling and rainwater harvesting.

    • Land Conservation: Preventing uncontrolled, unplanned growth that damages sensitive landscapes, agricultural land, and cultural sites.

    • Healthy Environment: Ensuring proper ventilation, thermal comfort, and lighting for physical and mental health.

    • Infrastructure: Providing basic physical infrastructure (water, sanitation, drainage, electricity) and social infrastructure (education, healthcare) as a prerequisite for sustainable settlements.

    • Waste Management: Reducing material wastage (construction debris accounts for 15-30% of solid waste) and recycling materials to lower costs and environmental impact.

Findings from the Kabul Context

The research utilized a qualitative methodology, combining policy analysis with primary data from site surveys, questionnaires, and interviews across three zones in Kabul, alongside secondary data from the World Bank and JICA master plans.

Key findings reveal a severe disconnect between awareness and implementation. While key stakeholders (government, project managers, consultants) understand and acknowledge the importance of sustainable affordable housing they rarely implement it in practice. For instance, while factors like energy efficiency, waste management, and water conservation are deemed important, few respondents had actually integrated them into projects. Similarly, for economic sustainability, there is a preference for larger spaces and more facilities, contradicting the sustainability principle that smaller, efficient spaces are often more sustainable. Socially, while services like public transport and schools are valued, tenant participation in design and management is virtually non-existent.

The paper provides a stark statistical portrait of Kabul’s affordable housing stock (Table 8). It shows that informal housing dominates, comprising 82% of the population but 71% of residential land use, while formal housing accounts for only 18% of the population on 31% of the land. Informal courtyard housing alone makes up 56% of total residential land and houses 67% of the population. This underscores the critical role of informal settlements in absorbing the population, despite lacking basic infrastructure and security of tenure.

Housing Finance and Policy Recommendations

A major constraint identified is the lack of institutional finance. The government-owned affordable housing finance bank was closed in 2003, and commercial banks have excess liquidity but lack the legal regime and long-term funding mechanisms to support mortgages. Most houses are purchased on a cash basis, excluding all but the wealthy. The paper notes that any housing finance system in Afghanistan must comply with Islamic Sharia law (based on the Quran and Sunnah, using concepts like Ijma, Qiyas, and Ijtihad).

To address this, the paper offers a series of actionable recommendations:

Conclusions and the Path Forward

The study concludes that sustainable affordable housing is not an oxymoron but a challenging, multi-objective goal that requires a trans-disciplinary approach, crossing boundaries between planning, architecture, social science, and finance. While many objectives of affordability and sustainability align (e.g., compact design, proximity to transit), some are contradictory eco-efficient housing is often expensive. Therefore, the paper argues that for low-income households, affordability must take priority, and government subsidies will be necessary to achieve environmental and economic sustainability.

The authors assert that without a national affordable housing policy that integrates a sustainability agenda, and without coordinated efforts from all stakeholders including government, donors (like JICA and the World Bank), banks, and communities success is unlikely. The proposed conceptual framework, with its four equal pillars of socio-cultural, economic, technological, and environmental sustainability, is presented as the foundation for any future Afghan national housing policy.

Finally, the paper warns against the uncritical adoption of Western architectural patterns, which are often in serious confrontation with Islam as a philosophy of life and Afghan cultural traditions. Instead, it calls for a return to native, traditional, and Islamic architectural styles that are harmonious with local lifestyles, privacy needs, and climate. The document serves as a comprehensive call to action: to move beyond piecemeal projects and establish a coherent, sustainable, and affordable housing policy that can provide identity, security, and dignity to the people of Kabul, while preserving the environment for future generations. The authors emphasize that home ownership brings not just economic security but profound social change, transforming shelter-less individuals into integrated members of society.

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