Tuesday January 6, 02:43 AM

Source: Indian Express Finance

Govt wants state housing boards to pitch in

By Smita Aggarwal
To break the monopoly of private developers, whose only motive is profit , the government has asked state housing agencies to play an active role in stepping up supply of affordable housing units by energising their housing boards. In a recent letter, housing and urban poverty alleviation minister Kumari Selja advised state chief ministers to make land available for affordable housing. Reviving the housing boards at this juncture would contribute strongly towards revival of the economy, and in the process meet a felt need of the people, she said in the letter. Coming down heavily on developers for overlooking of population in the affordable housing category, Selja said, They went unchecked all these years. Profit was main motive. They should have focussed on low income group and economically weaker sections, where significant demand lay. The private sector should have been a bit more responsible and responsive, she said. The minister has now asked state agencies to explore different modes to fast-track the housing supply in the country. These measures could include state housing boards partnering developers and reviving co-operative sector housing, she said. State development boards, responsible for fulfilling the housing needs of a vast section of population, have failed to deliver. Clearly, they (state development agencies) haven t done enough to meet housing shortfall. Especially keeping in mind that in the next 10-15 years, when urban population is expected to grow by 10-15 crore, there will be new housing needs in this segment, said Planning Commission member Anwarul Hoda. In fact, Hoda said that housing for middle income group had not received adequate attention. Since land is costly, being in short supply, developers build houses which are costly, thus out of reach for middle income group, he said. The role of state housing boards has also evolved from being the sole institution catering to housing needs to local infrastructure developer. This threw open the field for private sector, said Hoda. The union ministry is now likely to push states for increasing density norms to give a thrust to vertical housing schemes. In view of global slowdown, an increase in housing construction activity would stimulate demand in about 20 related sectors of manufacturing industry and create employment, she said. Recently, DDA s scheme of around 5,000 flats saw a deluge of applications, running into several lakhs. The housing shortage has been estimated at 24.5 million by the Eleventh Plan-end. The social housing scheme under UPA s flagship urban renewal scheme - Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission -would provide only 2 million houses. JNNURM has mandated that in the 63 mission cities, any developer that launches a residential project has to earmark 20-25 per cent of land for LIG/EWS housing. This criteria may now be applied to rest of the country, Selja said.