Redefining the Role of The State in the Provision of Housing Through the Neoliberal Real Estate Market of Dhaka
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.54536/jpp.v3i1.7439Keywords:
Accumulation Dispossession, Affordable Housing, Asset Based Welfare, Neoliberalism, Public Private Partnership (PPP)Abstract
Neoliberal housing policies have been widely critiqued for failing to deliver affordable housing for low- and middle-income households across the Global South. However, empirical research examining how the state’s simultaneous roles as regulator, provider, and market facilitator interact to produce housing unaffordability in least developed country contexts remains limited. Addressing this gap, this study investigates how neoliberal restructuring has shaped institutional and structural constraints on affordable housing provision in Dhaka, Bangladesh, where middle-income households constitute approximately 60 percent of the population yet are largely excluded from the formal housing market. Drawing on qualitative in-depth interviews with ten housing experts, ten corporate developers, and four senior officials from key public institutions, analyzed thematically using NVivo 12, the study finds that the state’s regulatory role has fostered crony capitalism through weak enforcement and collusion between planning authorities and influential developers; its provider role has disproportionately subsidized affluent groups while displacing low-income communities from peripheral land in patterns consistent with accumulation by dispossession; and its facilitating role has intensified speculative investment, further eroding affordability. The study’s originality lies in applying a tripartite analytical framework, to show how these three state roles interact and mutually reinforce housing unaffordability, moving beyond the single-mechanism explanations prevalent in existing literature. Theoretically, the findings extend Harvey’s concept of accumulation by dispossession into the domain of state-led housing facilitation in a South Asian urban context. In terms of policy relevance, the study proposes an institutional framework for affordable housing delivery through public-private partnerships, emphasizing transparent developer selection, cross-subsidization mechanisms, and beneficiary participation as preconditions for equitable housing provision in Dhaka.
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