Maryam Nawaz’s Apni Chhat Apna Ghar: from hopes to homes, from a dream to global success

Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif’s flagship project, “Apni Chhat Apna Ghar” (ACAG), has been honored with the prestigious UN-Habitat Scroll of Honour Award. The Apni Chhat Apna Ghar programme has been included among the world’s five most successful and effective housing initiatives. The United Nations award recognises efforts to provide safe, affordable and adequate housing to low-income families and homeless people. Maryam Nawaz is the first Chief Minister to receive the Scroll of Honour Award. Every year, the United Nations nominates only five programmes from around the world for the Scroll of Honour Award. The Apni Chhat Apna Ghar programme was selected in recognition of its efforts to provide safe and adequate housing opportunities to low-income families. The programme was selected after a competitive and comprehensive review of projects being implemented around the world. The award was presented to Apni Chhat Apna Ghar on October 5 during the global World Habitat Day ceremony. The Scroll of Honour Award ceremony was held in Muscat, the capital of the Sultanate of Oman, where Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz received the award. The selection of Apni Chhat Apna Ghar for the 2026 UN-Habitat Scroll of Honour Award represents significant international recognition for Punjab’s housing sector. It also highlights the fact that providing affordable housing at scale for low-income families is an important part of the global development agenda. A special seminar and workshop on housing and urban development will be held in Muscat from October 6 to 8. Under the Apni Chhat Apna Ghar programme, as of October 30, 2026, more than 122,000 houses have been completed, while more than 59,000 houses are under construction. According to programme figures, more than Rs. 2.76 billion has been released for the construction of homes. Apni Chhat Apna Ghar also has the distinction of being Pakistan’s largest and first fully digital housing finance scheme. Ultimately, the real success of any programme is not measured merely by an award or international recognition, but by the change it brings to the lives of ordinary people. For a family, a home is not simply a structure made of bricks, cement and a roof; it represents security, dignity, stability and hope for the future. That is why the story of Apni Chhat Apna Ghar can be viewed not merely as the story of a housing programme, but as an effort to turn hope into reality. Earlier this year, Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif presented the Apni Chhat Apna Ghar programme to the international community at the 13th World Urban Forum (WUF 13) in Baku, Azerbaijan, where she represented Pakistan and Punjab. The programme became a particular focus of attention for foreign delegates and experts at the Punjab Pavilion. They appreciated the homes completed under Apni Chhat Apna Ghar, the pace of implementation, its vision for a sustainable future, and its social impact on deserving families. The international media also gave extensive coverage to the programme, highlighting the vision behind Apni Chhat Apna Ghar—that urban development is not merely about building roads and structures, but also about providing people with dignity, security and a better future. Research has shown that India, Brazil, Türkiye, China and other countries have implemented major housing-sector programmes, many of which have been running for two decades or more. Yet, within just one year, Punjab’s Apni Chhat Apna Ghar programme has begun to be counted among leading housing initiatives around the world. Separate studies conducted by three leading Pakistani universities—the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS), the Civil Engineering Department of the University of Engineering and Technology (UET), and the Department of Architecture at the University of the Punjab—have appreciated the programme’s transparency, uniqueness and significance, as well as its inclusion among major housing initiatives globally. Under Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz’s Apni Chhat Apna Ghar programme, the Punjab Housing and Town Planning Agency (PHATA), a subsidiary of the Housing, Urban Development and Public Health Engineering Department, is providing interest-free loans of up to Rs1.5 million for home construction. The applicant constructs the house independently and repays the loan over a period of nine years. The scheme is designed for low-income people. Applicants must be residents of Punjab. Under the Apni Chhat Apna Ghar programme, applicants who own up to five marlas of land in urban areas and up to ten marlas in rural areas may qualify for the loan. Applicants submit their applications online with basic information, and after verification, the loan is disbursed in two interest-free installments of Rs750,000 each. These are not merely one hundred thousand loans; they represent a programme capable of changing the fortunes of one hundred thousand families. It is a programme that is improving both people’s lifestyles and their overall quality of life. While Maryam Nawaz’s Apni Chhat Apna Ghar programme is helping address the shortage of housing across Punjab, it is also generating employment. The construction of a single house involves 10 to 12 different industries, while approximately eight to ten people are required to build one house. This means that the programme is stimulating business and economic activity across the province. Skilled and unskilled workers are finding employment, contributing not only to economic activity at the provincial level but also to increased investment at the national level. This is an important step towards building a sustainable and stronger Punjab. The UN-Habitat Scroll of Honour Award for Apni Chhat Apna Ghar is not merely an international accolade for a single programme. It represents international recognition of Pakistan’s public-sector housing efforts to ensure that the dream of owning a home for low-income families does not remain merely a dream.

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Zia ur Rehman is the Founder and Chief Executive of AwazCDS-Pakistan and a mathematician turned social and human rights activist. The author can be reached on Twitter at @MZRAWAZ

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