Housing

Objectives
To provide a better living environment for the rural poor.

This programme was introduced by Brother James Kimpton in 1976 as a one time solution to the poor living conditions of many in the surrounding rural area. The poorer villagers often live in a house with a thatched roof and mud walls or even thatched walls. This type of shelter needs changing every year which costs at least Rs.1500/-. Normally the villagers get this money from private moneylenders at a high interest rate of around 60% or more. Often they cannot settle this before the next renovation is due and so the loans build up until sometimes the debt is passed on to the next generation.

We identify those most in need in the villages through a Participatory Rural Appraisal. We then complete a house within 15 days from the day of measurement. The concrete and tiles are made at RTU. Our total cost per house is Rs.55,000/- including white wash.

Since the inception of this programme we have constructed over 7500 houses for the rural poor in our area. We construct a decent 17′ x 17′ + 5’ x 5’(feet) size house with a kitchen, living room, bath cum toilet and a sit-out (design attachment I). A recent addition is a partition in the living room which gives privacy to women and adolescent girls. The roof is made-up of steel trusses on top of cement tiles. We place a few glass tiles in the roof, which gives good lighting in the house.

Our regular masons measure the size and mark the foundation. The foundation is made-up of rubble, red soil and granite powder. Normally the householders dig the foundation and fill it with the support of our mason. If a household does not have adequate skilled people we provide labour.

Case study
I was living in a hut made of sticks and woven coconut leaves and tarpaulin in the south street of Genguvarpatti village. All of a sudden the hut caught fire and gutted it within a few minutes. This happened during the daytime and nobody was inside the house. When we returned home for rest after toiling the whole day we found only a heap of ashes in the place of our hut. We came to understand that the crackers fired during a funeral procession that passed through the street caused the mishap. After setting down the fire I went to Arul Malar School to collect my son.

Through the teachers RTU came to know about the fire accident and volunteered their help by supplying bed sheets, dress materials, cooking vessels, and monitory assistance for living and advised RTU Rural Housing Department to construct a house for me. They also gave us food, cloth, mats, pillows and blankets and offered us a place to live until a new house was constructed. On the next day morning a survey team came to the spot to asses the possibility of the construction. They found that the land we possessed was inadequate for minimum needs. They asked us to acquire sufficient land for the house.

A house site in 2 ¾ cents was ready for sale in our same street. We arranged for a loan from a local financier and purchased this land within a week. On hearing about the acquisition of the land the RTU friends came and briefed us about the proposed construction. Hearing our opinion about the facilities we wished to have, they designed the house plan. On the same day, i.e. on 3rd November 2005, they started the work. As my husband was a sickly man the responsibility for the supervision and management of the construction was given to me. I too worked along with the other labourers.

The house was constructed in 10 days. It is 314 sq. feet, fireproof, waterproof and termite proof. The house warning ceremony of this house was held on 15th November 2005. We are now living happily in this house. It is very convenient also. It has facilities like a sit out, bedroom, kitchen, and attached toilet and bathroom. We are saving a small amount every month to bring electricity to our house. We feel proud of living in this house. We are ever grateful to RTU for this help.

Ferro Cement Products (Since 1989)

In our cement product unit, which provides employment to those in the area, we make hollow blocks (sizes 4″, 6″ and 8″) for walls, doors, windows, tiles, glass tiles, etc. These are economic models with locally available materials, only cement and steel is bought. We use granite dust instead of river sand, an eco friendly measure that does not harm rivers. These houses are timber free houses, so they rarely need repairing. The kitchen is 9″ x 6″ with a terracotta stove. Normally women use country wood for cooking which causes smoke and so each house has two smoke tiles, to avoid smoke spreading inside the house. The roof has steel trusses made by local black smiths, on top of which cement tiles are fixed.

Identification of Beneficiaries

After identifying those in need, we also screen potential beneficiaries through our survey team. Most of the beneficiaries of this programme are very poor land owners. In Tamil Nadu the government gives public land to poor households free of cost. Our beneficiaries are usually these owners of land or ones who bought land against payment to a third party.

We make sure they have already been living on the land for a minimum of 3 years. We also keep their land ownership document for 5 years and get them to sign a legal document that they will not sell or lease the property for five years. These are needed to avoid any misuse of our support. A few villages were also developed on RTU purchased land which we then gave to poor landless families.

We encourage the household to save a minimum of Rs.50 or 100/- in secured schemes at post offices or banks for their future. This is possible as they do not have their yearly house renovation expenses. Within a few years many of the households used this money to add electricity or to expand their house.

Water

Well Drilling

Working in what is a drought-ridden area; we have sunk over 2192 wells to provide remote villages with access to safe drinking water.