Saudamini Das, a researcher with the Institute of Economic Growth in New Delhi, says this strategy isn’t working. “Those who are relocated aren’t able to secure jobs outside the city,” she says. “They end up selling the land or giving it to relatives, and returning to more centrally located slums.”

Das’s recent research delves into what slum dwellers value when they choose housing, and has implications for this government policy. Through surveys of slum inhabitants in four Indian cities—Jaipur, Ludhiana, Mathura, and Ujjain—Das and two co-authors determined what neighborhood services slum dwellers would likely be willing to pay the government for, thus giving officials a reason to work with slums, rather than banishing their inhabitants to outer areas.

The researchers stress that though no one lives in a slum by choice, those who inhabit these areas make thoughtful decisions about their housing. “Once people are compelled to reside in slums as they cannot afford elsewhere,” the researchers write, “[they] still possess the capability to value or optimize on the housing attributes.”

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The idea is that if the government supplies or improves these services in slum areas, residents will likely be willing to pay for them. This gives the government a financial incentive to change its policy of relocating slum inhabitants. The paper notes that the funds collected for sewage and street lights could be used “to finance other [slum] improvement programs.”

Das also advocates for the government to explicitly recognize slum inhabitants’ rights to the land surrounding their homes. “One reason people throw garbage next to their houses in the slums is because the land doesn’t matter to them,” Das says. “There, what belongs to you is inside the walls of your home. If slum dwellers are given more official rights to the land, such practices could change. People would feel ownership of the space.”