Establishing urban housing model

In 1987, women slumdwellers in the Mumbai organization Mahila Milan began to design houses in which they would like to live, and which combined financial viability and ability for self-construction. An exhibition of four optional designs was made as life-sized wooden structures covered with cloth. This practice has spread throughout the city. The alliance of which Mahila Milan and the National Slumdwellers Federation are a part uses housing exhibitions to: (1) educate and mobilize communities concerning affordable housing; (2) establsih a dialogue and negotiate with the State and its various institutions on issues of housing for the urban poor; and (3) build capacity to manage, host and participate in such processes.