Wright51

In Cochin, till a few decades ago, the cooperative sector and the government controlled housing development agencies hogged the limelight. Some of the initiatives saw good results and many of the housing development schemes literally floundered. In this background, we may look at some of the options tried out in the prominent cities and arrive at valid conclusions for further action. In Cochin, the cooperative form of organization has been found useful for various shelter development strategies including those involving house constructions and up gradations. The state government offered the existing rental occupants of over 50,000 tenements in different housing colonies the option of hire purchase of the tenement at the original cost of construction minus a 20 percent rebate for repairs. The tenants in each building were required to form themselves into a cooperative for the purpose of undertaking essential repairs and for the management of common services like water supply and parks, or for running provision stores, pre-school centers, etc. The State Housing Authority held discussions with tenant cooperatives facing difficulties in raising resources for structural repairs. They were assisted in securing loans from the cooperative banks for repairs on the assurance of technical supervision of the work by the housing agency. The commercial banks and even the privately run Housing Development Finance Corporations are now offering loans for repairs and making additions to the existing houses. Recently the state government amended the cooperative law to provide for coercive recovery of dues from members in order to permit viable operation of the housing cooperatives. But for the high-salaried class the banks and financing institutions were going all-out to lure them to take home loans. Thus for the luxury "Villas Cochin"has many takers mainly due to the availability of finance from scores of financing institutions. The past experiences of the banks’ dealings with such people are the main reason for such a liberal attitude.