Don’t have a home? Are you so stretched in managing your daily routine and financial cycle that you cannot afford to even think of availing house building loans from commercial banks and such institutions? Do you see your dream of owning a home as an unfulfilled distant reality? Do you imagine your generations living on rented accommodation for foreseeable future? Well, the Chief Minister Punjab, Maryum Nawaz Shareef has given you a way out. She has done the unthinkable. She has turned dreams into realities and hopes into homes through Apni Chhat Apna Ghar program. When the program was launched in Oct. 2024, it was merely a vision to achieve a daunting task to deliver house building interest free loans to low income people across Punjab with no collateral. However, today, it has become a resounding success across globe with the numbers it has achieved. Today, after delivering more than 130,000+ interest free house building loans to the low income people across Punjab, it is ranked number two across globe in terms of scale and maturity among the initiatives for low income housing. However, in terms of innovation and accessibility it is ranked number one across the world due to its easy model of interest free loan ensuring swift social outcomes and economic benefits. In January 2025, when program was in nascent stage and was struggling hard to take off, only 9000 loans were issued worth of PKR 8B and only 4 lac applications were received. However, hardly a year later, program stands at 131000+ loans with amount of PKR 183B and approximately 2m registered users. The system is end to end technology based with zero human intervention in any financial transaction. This has tremendously helped in shaping the credibility of the program. It has not only transpired as a solution provider for housing crisis but has also emerged as a catalyst for social change and economic uplift of the people at large.
Beyond its technological and financial achievements, the Chief Minister Punjab Maryum Nawaz’s program Apni Chhat Apna Ghar (ACAG) program is a transformative engine for gender inclusion and social equity. In a region where property ownership has traditionally been a male domain, the initiative has seen women represent approximately 15% of direct beneficiaries, holding land and loans in their own names. By providing women with these loans, the program is fundamentally reconfiguring household decision-making power and fostering a new generation of financially independent citizens. For these women, a home is far more than physical shelter; it is a foundation for economic agency that allows them to establish home-based enterprises such as tailoring, food preparation, and childcare, effectively bridging the gender gap in asset ownership while providing a secure environment to plan for their children’s future. This transition from housing as a transaction to housing as a right is reinforced by partnerships with microfinance institutions that empower women, even those without formal credit histories, to participate in the province’s economic revival with dignity and confidence.
The program’s success is also defined by its commitment to geographic equity. Unlike traditional housing schemes that often focus on urban centers, ACAG has successfully reached deep into the rural heartland, with rural applicants making up nearly 63% of the total. This distribution ensures that the state’s “maternal” protection extends to families who own ancestral land but have historically lacked the formal credit or documentation required to build on it. By enabling families to stay rooted in their own communities rather than migrating to overcrowded cities, ACAG is building a more resilient and balanced social fabric across the entire province.
Beyond providing shelter, ACAG has evolved into a powerful engine for grassroots economic development, injecting over Rs. 183 billion directly into local markets. Unlike large-scale developments that benefit major contractors, this model channels funds to individuals who spend them within their own communities on local materials like bricks, cement, and steel. The ripple effect is profound: every billion rupees disbursed is estimated to generate 2 to 3 billion in allied economic activity, supporting a vast network of small-scale suppliers and creating employment for over 600,000 semi-skilled workers, including masons, carpenters, and electricians. This transforms social spending into a productive investment that stimulates domestic industries and builds long-term household assets across Punjab.
It is not only a government funded scheme, it is a working model for socio economic transition. Punjab government intends to stage this program in upcoming WUF13 (World Urban Forum) with the theme – Housing the world: Safe and resilient cities and communities from 17th to 22nd May, 2026 in Baku, Azerbaijan. And through this program, government of Punjab is successfully achieving the targets set by UN SDGs. The Apni Chhat Apna Ghar program has proven that when a state acts with the heart of a mother and the precision of a digital architect, the “unthinkable” becomes inevitable. By dismantling the barriers of traditional finance and replacing them with a model of zero-interest dignity, Punjab is not just building houses; it is restoring faith in the social contract. As this model prepares for the global stage at WUF13, it stands as a bold invitation to the world: a reminder that sustainable, resilient cities are built one doorstep and one dream at a time.