Today, slums have become part and parcel of the urban housing stock; with rapid increase in urban population and inadequate supply of housing, slums continue to grow.  As per 1981 census 38.30 percent of total urban population (in Mumbai) lived in slums; in Kolkota the percentage was 35.35 in Kanpur it was 40.33 percent and in Lucknow 38.79 percent.  

It is evident that slums will remain tagged with the urban centers but what should not remain is the unhealthy environment in which the slum dwellers are compelled to live.  There are sporadic instances of governmental support to eradicate slums.  The limitations of this type of intervention have established new and complimentary roles for formal and informal housing organizations and opened new opportunities in the context of settlement policies in the shape of slum ‘up grading’ and ‘sites and services’ projects.  It would be naïve to assume that these programmes would provide a panacea for all ills; however, these projects have opened-up new challenges to the slum development programme.

It must be emphasized here once again that in spite of larger investments being made by the private sector in housing development in Cochin, the state government must realize that their intervention in housing is very much essential in order to maintain an equilibrium in the housing market.  Such a step is the only way out to make housing affordable to the urban poor and also to improve the living conditions in the slums.  

In order to achieve this, what is most urgently required is a total political commitment by the Central government and a greater coordination with the state government.  The primary target of the housing sector should be “to provide minimum shelter and basic amenities to the maximum number of people” and this could only be achieved only through the joint efforts of the public and private sectors.  In recent times when considering the proliferation of Apartments Cochin City is witnessing massive developments mainly due to the better coordination between the government and the private agencies.