The federal budget of 2025-26 has given a negative signal on the priority to be attached to shelter. The mark-up subsidy of over Rs 21 billion in 2024-25 has been completely withdrawn for 2025-26 for the Mera Pakistan Mera Ghar Scheme. Instead, a small allocation has been made for a subsidy of Rs 5 billion only to low-cost housing.

This change in priority comes at a time when the access to shelter has become more and more difficult for low-income households in Pakistan. Households in the bottom quintile devote almost 20 percent of their income as expenditure on housing. This cuts into other expenditure, including on food, as accommodation is a fundamental requirement for any family.

There is a big divergence between sources on the estimated number of homeless households in Pakistan. According to the Population and Housing Census of 2023 there are 200,000 homeless households. This implies a homeless population of almost 1.3 million people. However, according to the World Population Review, the estimated homeless population in Pakistan is as high as 8 million. This is in comparison to the number in Bangladesh of 5 million.

Beyond the homeless there are also a large number of low-income households who are living in sub-standard shelter and/or in very limited living space. According to the Population and Housing Census of 2023, there are as many as 12.4 million housing units out of the total number........

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