The urbanisation process reveals a complicated picture of two distinct trends, one, the ever increasing growth of population and second the myriad questions involved in management of its affairs. It is particularly so in the developing countries as there is a great lag between the growth and planning process. In the city of Guwahati, Housing is a major area of concern due to its physiographic features and its growth pattern. Urban seismic risk in Guwahati is increasing with extensive growth and the encroachment of vulnerable built–environment into areas susceptible to seismic hazard. The city lies in the zone V and at the same time the city has been expanded with high growth rate of population as the gateway to the North –Eastern states. In this backdrop the paper makes an enquiry into the subject of urban housing with three perspectives: the nature of housing development in the city; the imbalance between site-situation and development; the apathy towards plan implementation. The paper is the outcome of the academic concern for highlighting the need of proper policy perspective in the urban sector in general and Guwahati in particular whose primate city character in the North East Region of India cannot be ruled out because of the demographic and socio-economic dimension of its growth.