Journal of Anthropology and Archaeology is a peer-reviewed international journal, which publishes original papers promoting theoretical, methodological and empirical developments in the discipline of socio-cultural anthropology.

Provision of affordable housing for low-income groups is constrained precariously in Punjab, the largest province of Pakistan, because of a complex institutional framework and overlapping roles of government authorities at federal, provincial, and local levels. This article is a reflexive study that covers a broader aspect of the Punjabi Housing system, drawing a framework of current institutional arrangements in practice for affordable housing provision. Although it draws on an institutional analytical framework, the article is grounded in applying structural analysis to the study of public institutions within the housing sector, which provides a much-needed theoretical framework for analyzing housing institutional arrangements under the current dynamic political environment within the country. The study is an effort to fill gaps in the literature in understanding the intricate practices and processes of public housing institutions with overlapping jurisdictions and roles. The article argues for streamlining the federal, provincial, and local governments to provide an enabling environment to deal with affordable housing policy and provision issues by reexamining the respective institutional structures. Some previous studies relevant to housing policies and projects are also reviewed, followed by an empirical analysis of institutional arrangements; finally, ways forward are suggested toward key policy and empirical implications.

The prevailing housing situation in Pakistan is alarming, as more than 47% of urban households are estimated to be living in squatters. Housing stakeholders require an enabling environment to collaborate to reduce the drastic inequity with too many housing options for the high-income and too few for the low-income groups. Existing literature reveals that Pakistan lacks stakeholder studies with a collaborative focus on providing low-income housing in urban areas. This study explores the barriers and impediments to stakeholder collaborations in the low-income housing sector through in-depth interviews within the urban setting of Lahore, the capital and the most populous city of the biggest province, Punjab, Pakistan. The findings identify the emergence of five cross-cutting collaboration challenges (GLIPP), placing government capacity, institutional complexity, and political willpower & intervention as dominant ones. This study stresses revising the organizational hierarchy of government institutions to develop a collaborative culture in the Pakistani housing sector. As part of practical implications, this paper would agitate policymakers to develop housing policies and programs for low-income groups.