At this point, it will be useful to think through the role of policy in delivering housing justice. In the absence of a legislation on the right to housing, housing justice can be delivered through policies and programs that address housing equity issues. In this part of the module, we'll focus on policy initiatives that can support housing justice and deliver housing equity. In this part of the module, we will look at three broad options for policy interventions that addressed the question of land and affordable housing within an overarching frame of integrating livelihoods, social and physical infrastructure, mobility and the environment. Firstly, let's speak about land and housing integration. As is well-known, access to land is central to our ability to deliver housing for urban residents. Unfortunately, land markets in developing countries are very volatile, and in many cases, land prices have appreciated to unaffordable levels for most households, leading to housing market scenario that is highly skewed towards the rich. Thus a key question becomes, how do we integrate the challenges of mobilizing land in order to develop housing that is affordable to the majority of urban residents? One of the key pathways to mobilize land is to make reservations for affordable housing and housing improvement in our cities' master plans. In many countries, master plans are in fact statutory documents, implying that they're law. However, in most contexts of the global south, planning is often actually catching up with city growth and development. In India, for example, master plans are followed only lightly, serving more retrospective purposes than prospective functions. In this context, we premise that the master plan is in fact more of a policy document de facto. In the document, several cities in the global south have now begun making reservations on land that can enable the improvement of existing housing and encourage the development of new affordable housing. The ZEIs in Brazil provides for the former as a land reservation for social purposes. The affordable housing zone in master plans of Indian cities like Hyderabad and Ranchi provide for the latter, dedicated affordable housing land use zones in order to encourage such developments. Let us now speak about affordable and social rental housing policies. A policy is the location for converting a law or an intention into a set of actionable options. This is very important to understand, that on the one hand, a policy is not enforceable by law, but on the other, it forms the guiding document for the design and delivery of programs and projects. In the field of urban housing, there are largely two broad categories of policies that can be gleaned; those that speak of the need to improve existing housing and those that develop options for the development of new housing. Both are designed to deliver housing justice from an affirmative and proactive approach. A policy usually consists of a set of aims and objectives, outlining the desirable outcomes, sets of criteria for eligibility of households' affordability and other set defining features. Policies may also be aimed at specific market segments. For example, there may be separate policies for affordable housing, for addressing slums, and for addressing rental markets. The choice to make an integrated policy or a segmented one usually depends on a government's jurisdictions and mandate. If the government is at a higher level, such as a federal or a provincial government, a policy may also make suggestions for provision of land and finance, involvement of other stakeholders, as well as the level of intergrations with livelihood, mobility, social, physical infrastructure, and the environment. The latter options for integration is usually the result of a consultative process in policy-making. The accompanying examples of the affordable housing and slum areas development policies of the state of Karnataka, India include all of the above aspects, as well as an institutional or governance structure that defines who's responsible for the implementation of the policy. Lastly, let us look briefly at the scale of programs and projects.
