Pictures

Above: Near completion projects in Virar East
(we did not approve these, there is hardly any space between two buildings and there are new buildings coming up right in front)

Below are a few pictures from TMCity -
(A complete (mock) building and an overview of the current construction status)

Update on Builders

I think now be a good time to give everyone an update on where things stand today as MHFC gets ready to launch.

For starters, since we are project led, the most important update is on the builder/project front.

TM City:
Our team visited TMCity two weeks back and was really impressed by their progress. The last time I went there they barely had one mock building up (This was only 4-5 months back). Now almost 54 buildings are completed at foundation level and about 5-6 till the first floor. They are confident of completing about 3000 flats by the end of August and a 1000 more by December

Nirman Realty:
We recently met the promoters of the Nirman group. They are building about 228 flats in Neral (near Karjat, where TMCity is located). They also have land banks in western and central areas of Mumbai and showed great enthusiasm in partnering with us. The meeting reinforced our belief that the main cause of lack of housing is not really a lack of developers, but it is the lack of financiers for the end-buyers. Once the builder is assured of the take out funding, in today's market, he is more than willing to put up mass low-cost housing projects.

Virar / Nalasopara:
When we had gone last time to take a look at some of the near-ready properties, frankly we were quite disappointed with the lack of planning (inefficient use of FSI) and poor quality of construction. We realized that MHFC will have to be involved from an earlier stage in a project to ensure decent floor plans and good quality of construction. Our mission is to improve the quality of life of the urban poor - not lift them from a slum to put them back in a concrete slum. We have identified a couple of builders in the area and are in talks with them to be the almost the exclusive financier to the whole project. That will give us enough leverage to ensure a decent finished product.

Ahmedabad:
There is positive news from Ahmedabad too - the two builders we were talking to have got their environmental clearances and are set to start their projects in April/May. We are planning to go visit the sites again next week - more update on that will follow.

Overall, all the builders seem to be realizing this is a recession proof business and are willing to work on lower margins and higher volumes.

Loan Officer thoughts

The Loan Officer, a borrowed concept from microfinance to help us keep close contact with the customer, is going to be probably the most important cog in MHFC's wheel. He or she is going to be not just the initial screening point / advisor in filling out the loan application form but also is envisaged to be the ongoing Relationship Manager for all borrowers in a development. The LO will be the face of MHFC to the client, and research has generally indicated in the case of microfinance that repayment rates are higher when the client / LO relationship is good (one of high trust). How do we know who will make a good LO is the million dollar question. But if we had to hazard a guess, he / she needs to be a certain standard in financial acumen though probably more importantly, the LO should be passionate (about the social nature of MHFC's business in terms of helping people find appropriate shelter) and compassionate (sensitive to the client's needs and helping them understand their finances).
In line with this, I just re-read the chapter on training Grameen staff in Mohammad Yunus's book "Banker to the Poor" - and thought the following passage was quite relevant and inspirational.
"Unlike any other commercial bank workers, our staff members are above all else teachers. They are teachers in the sense that they help their borrowers to unfold their full potential, to discover their strengths, to push their horizons and capabilities further than ever before. We give our staff an opportunity to use all their knowledge, imagination and experience to become true teachers. The job of manager (loan officer) is a personal adventure, the type of challenge a student has never had an opportunity to take up before."

Time Out story - Devendra

Link to a story in the latest TimeOut Mumbai (cover story on Dharavi and its enterprising residents)- this is the one on Devendra Tank, who is a J P Morgan employee living in Dharavi.

http://www.timeoutmumbai.net/client_coverstory/client_coverstory_details.asp?code=628

Forget about housing loans, he wasn't granted an educational loan by a major bank because of his residential address ! His story is inspiring in any case, but also adds validity (as are some of the other stories in the issue) that people with reasonable incomes are being denied finance by the current banking system, and change is necessary.

Yes we can

another post not directly related to MHFC - but the inauguration was inspirational
the BBC has done interesting interviews with a variety of people on the inauguration - below is the link to the one with Maya Angelou - she thinks Obama is a person with intelligence and compassion - and how difficult it is to find those 2 qualities in the same person.
the other issue she raised was "I think that each of us can find a place to give some time... I think these seem to be small things but they accumulate. And I do believe that good done anywhere is good done everywhere." I know she meant this for Americans (to do what they can to help the new President) but I guess it applies to everyone.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/world_news_america/7838941.stm