Zia Ur Rehman
Adequate and affordable housing is a global issue and one of the key challenges that highly urbanised and affluent societies, as well as developing and economically stretched societies, are equally exposed to, with certain peculiarities. Canada, for many decades, has offered a range of federal, provincial, and territorial programs to help low- and moderate-income households access affordable housing through the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation. There are similar successful examples in India, Turkey, South Africa and Malaysia as well. However, in Pakistan, any such policy interventions and government endeavours for low-income housing never matured and became a reality.
In Pakistan, there is a serious shortfall of more than 2.1M housing units; and in Punjab alone, the situation is precarious, being the largest province. The mushroom growth of private housing societies has led to multiple crises like food, energy, clean drinking water, health and sanitation and environmental degradation. Rapid population growth and consistently increasing cost of living have made home ownership a distant dream. Low-income families who own a residential plot often remain unable to construct a house for years because conventional housing finance is either unavailable or unaffordable. High interest rates, collateral requirements, and limited access to formal banking keep deserving citizens outside the housing-finance system. The GDP-to-mortgage ratio in Pakistan is as low as 0.24%. Many families spend a substantial portion of their income on rent, live in overcrowded or structurally inadequate houses, or construct their homes gradually over many years. Economically vulnerable segments of society, such as widows, daily-wagers, small farmers, labourers and workers in the informal economy, face even greater difficulty because they lack regular salary records or conventional banking profiles. The challenge, therefore, is not merely the availability of land; the real challenge is access to an affordable, transparent and dignified house-building finance regime.
In this backdrop, the government of Punjab, in August 2024, as a Chief Minister’s Special Initiative, launched a low-income interest-free house financing program titled: Apni Chhat Apna Ghar (My Roof My Home). The Punjab Housing and Town Planning Agency became the lead agency to execute the program. ACAG has been designed as a people-centred housing initiative to help low-income families construct homes on their own small residential plots. It marked a major shift from conventional housing schemes: instead of building houses at selected locations and asking people to relocate, the programme enabled eligible families to construct homes within their own communities, close to their livelihoods, schools, relatives and social support networks. The programme offers a loan to eligible candidates of PKR 1.5M in 02 equal instalments for a period of 09 years with zero interest rate, a 03-month grace period and a monthly instalment of PKR 14000 only, which goes into the revolving fund. However, a waiver is granted in case the beneficiary passes away. Only those people are eligible who are between the ages of 21 and 60 and are citizens of Punjab, own a residential plot of 5 marla in an urban area and 10 marla in a rural area, have a clean credit history with no bank defaulter record, and have no criminal record. The property is not pledged. Only entry is made in the revenue record through PLRA or revenue authorities. To ensure the transparency of the program and ensure that the funds are utilised for the subject purpose, the whole process is end-to-end technology-based, backed by PITB, with no human intervention or discretion. Applicant applies through an online platform, i.e. www.acag.punjab.gov.pk, or can take guidance or information from a helpline 0800-09100. Once the application is received, it is forwarded to the concerned Micro Finance Institution (in this case Akhuwat, NRSP and RCDP), hired by Bank of Punjab, which has been working in this program as an agent bank. The MFI does the land record verification, geotagging of the location, beneficiary verification and sends the case for loan approval. Once the loan is approved, the first tranche of 50% of the approved loan is issued, and upon completion of the 50% construction milestone, the remaining 50% of the funds are transferred as the second tranche.
The program is creating history by bringing socio-economic transformation and changing the lives of those who could never fathom owning a house. Every home is a story. The departure from the conventional lending system has provided ease to the general public and has restored public trust in government-led initiatives. The program conveniently reached more than 1.2M people and has generated employment for more than a million. The public satisfaction level touched almost 99% in April 2026. Even the World Bank, which has been executing another donor-funded program in Punjab since 2023 titled Punjab Affordable Housing Program (PAHP), has diverted its funding and is dovetailing it with the Apni Chhat Apna Ghar program under the BLC (Beneficiary Led Construction) model. Now Urban Unit has also become part of this program and is performing the role of MFIs. Now another initiative of Apni Chhat Mehfooz Chhat (My Roof Safe Roof) has also been launched to provide financing for repair of dilapidated roofs, construction of additional floors or rooms. This is primarily for the flood-affected urban masses.
To date, as of September 2026, more than 200,000 loans have been disbursed. More than 120,000 homes have been completed, and families have shifted. The recovery rate of loans stands at 99.6%. And by June 2027, a target of 3,70,000 loans will be disbursed. The program has been showcased at World Urban Forum 13, Baku, from 17th to 22nd May 2026, where the Chief Minister of Punjab herself showcased the program on a global stage and registered it as the fastest-growing low-income affordable housing interest-free finance program since 2010. And overall, across the globe, the program is ranked 5th among all housing initiatives that have been in place for multiple decades. Lately, ACAG has been acknowledged by UN-Habitat and has been selected for the UN-Habitat Scroll of Honour Award 2026. It is a step towards sustainable development and economic empowerment. It is not a housing program; it is the Chief Minister’s dream turning into reality. A vision transformed into global success. Apni Chhat Apna Ghar – turning hopes into homes.
The writer is a freelance journalist who has worked for Voice of America, Al Jazeera, Samaa TV and Dunya TV. He can be reached at [email protected] and on X (Twitter) @zeeea
