Cabinet approves rental housing scheme for migrants, govt to spend Rs 600 crore

Hindustan Times, New Delhi | By Anisha Dutta |

Edited by Sohini Sarkar
Jul 08, 2020 03:57 PM IST
The ARHC scheme will have a two-pronged approach; first, existing
vacant government funded housing complexes will be converted into
ARHCs through a concession agreement for 25 years. The scheme aims
to cover nearly 3 lakh beneficiaries initially.
An affordable rental housing scheme for migrants who went back to
their home states during the lockdown has been approved by the
Cabinet on Wednesday, officials aware of the development said.
The Affordable Rental Housing Complexes (ARHCs) scheme under the
ministry of housing and urban affairs will be a sub-scheme under the
Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Urban) with an estimated expenditure of
around Rs 600 crore. The scheme aims to cover nearly 3 lakh
beneficiaries initially.
“A large part of workforce in manufacturing industries, service providers “ARHCs will create a new ecosystem in urban areas making housing
in hospitality, health, domestic/commercial establishments, and available at affordable rent close to places of work and will cut down
construction or other sectors, labourers, students etc who come from unnecessary travel, congestion and pollution,” the proposal for the
rural areas or small towns seeking better opportunities will be the target scheme said, Hindustan Times has reviewed the note.
beneficiary under ARHCs,” the official added. “The investment under ARHCs is expected to create new job
opportunities. Government funded vacant housing stock will be
special incentives like use permission, 50% additional Floor Area Ratio or
converted into ARHCs for economically productive use. The scheme
Floor Space Index, concessional loan at priority sector lending rates, tax
would create a conducive environment for entities to develop AHRCs
reliefs at par with affordable housing among others will be offered to
on their own vacant land which will enable new investment
private and public entities to develop ARHCs on their own available
vacant land for 25 year opportunities and promote entrepreneurship in rental housing sector,”
it added.
 Recent Housing and Urban Development Policies, Codes • National Urban Rental Housing Policy (NURHP), 2015: NURHP focuses on
promoting rental housing provided by the private sector, cooperatives,
and Regulations NGOs, industry (for workers’ housing) and the services/institutional
sector (for employee housing). It also encourages public-private
• National Urban Housing and Habitat Policy (NUHHP), 2007: The foremost
partnerships in the rental sector.
objective of NUHHP is to promote and ensure sustainable development in the
country with a focus on urban human settlements, duly served by ensuring
National Building Code of India, 2005: In 2013, a new Part 11 was added to
equitable supply of land, shelter and services at affordable prices. NUHHP has the NBC entitled ‘Approach to Sustainability’. This past covers the parameters
critically analyzed the ways and means of providing ‘Affordable Housing to All’
required to be considered to be considered for planning, design, construction,
with special emphasis on EWS and LIG sectors so that they are fully integrated
operation & maintenance of building and those relating to land development
into the mainstream of ecologically well-balanced urban development. The from the point of view of sustainability. In 2016, revised and updated version
NUHHP aims at urban planning, affordable housing by fostering fund
of whole document is reprinted as NBC 2016.
generation, better management information system (MIS), employment
generation, public private partnership (PPP), special incentives scheme • Indian Standard IS 8888-1 (1993) – Requirements of Low Income Housing
(increase in FAR)11 etc. (Guide): This standard provides guidelines for the planning and general
building requirements of low income housing for houses having a
• Model State Affordable Housing Policy for Urban Areas (MSAHPUA), 2014: maximum plinth area of 40m2 . It applies to low income ‘housing
MSAHPUA is intended as a step towards implementing the NUHHP 2007. The colonies’ by government bodies and private agencies.
policy empowers individual states to achieve housing policy objectives as
listed under NUHHP 2007 by inclusion of legal and regulatory reforms, fiscal Recent Housing and Urban Development Programmes
concessions, financial sector reforms and innovations. The Policy aims to and ‘Missions’
provide “affordable housing for all” with special emphasis on EWS and LIG
Similarly, housing and urban development programmes have been plentiful
and other vulnerable sections of society such as Scheduled castes/Scheduled
Tribes, Backward Classes, Minorities and senior citizens, physically challenged over the years. The most recent ones are briefly profiled below, one of which,
persons in the State and to ensure that no individual is left homeless. The JNNURM, ended in 2014, and four others, with overlapping mandates,
policy further aims to promote Public Private People Participation (PPPP) for currently in implementation RAY, AMRUT, SMC, and PMAY:
addressing the shortage of adequate and affordable housing.
• Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM), 2005-2014: - (states/UTs/Urban Local Bodies/National Agencies) - Scheme extended to rental and
allocated Rs. 66,085 crores (US$9.732bn) over its nine year duration12; transit housing - Carries forward JNNURM’s Interest Subsidy Scheme for Housing the
Focussed on providing basic infrastructure services, as well as heritage spaces Urban Poor (ISHUP), now renamed Rajiv Rinn Yojana (RRY), to provide 5% interest
on PPP basis and redevelopment of inner (old) city areas; shifting industrial/ subsidy on 15-20 year loans with maximum loan amount of 5 lakh for EWS and 8 lakh
commercial establishments to conforming areas; - umbrella programme for for LIG. (Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation, Government of India,
2016a)
thematic subschemes like Basic Services for Urban Poor (BSUP), Integrated
Housing and Slum Development Programme (IHSDP), Interest Subsidy
• Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT), 2015-2035: -
Scheme for Housing the Urban Poor (ISHUP) and Affordable Housing in Focus on providing basic infrastructure, but also development of green spaces,
Partnership (AHIP); - BSUP to provide seven basic entitlements (security of parks and recreation centres, capacity building and reform implementation; - 500
tenure, affordable housing, water, sanitation, health, education and social Cities to be covered (capital cities/towns, heritage cities as per HRIDAY Scheme, hill
security) to low-income segments in 65 cities; - IHSDP to combine existing states/islands/tourist destinations and all cities/towns with populations of over one
schemes of Valmiki Ambedkar Awas Yojana (VAMBAY) and National Slum lakh with notified municipalities); - Fund investment over twenty years estimated at
Development Programme (NSDP); - Envisioned to cover Delhi, Greater 59.1 lakh crores (US$870.5bn), to be invested under different components in
Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Chennai, Kolkata and Ahmedabad, 28 addition to Operation & Maintenance (O&M).
million-plus cities and 34 cities with less than one million inhabitants; -
JNNURM’s rules and guidelines did not contain requirements for the • Smart Cities Mission (SCM), 2015-2020: - Aims to cover sustainability in broader
environmental sustainability of housing projects and associated supply terms with objective to promote cities that provide core infrastructure and decent
chains. quality of life, a clean and sustainable environment and application of ‘smart’
solutions; - Focus on compact areas, spanning either more than 50 acres (city
renewal), 250 acres (green field city extension), or 500 acres (city improvement
• Rajiv Awas Yojana (RAY), originally 2011- 2022, subsumed under PMAY-HFA
through retrofitting), providing as replicable model for other aspiring cities; - Apart
(U) in 2015: - Preparatory phase (2011-2013), implementation phase (2013- from basic infrastructure, SCM covers affordable housing, robust IT connectivity
2022); - The two-step implementation strategy: preparation of a ‘Slum Free and digitalization, good governance (especially e-Governance) and citizen
City Plan of Action’ and preparation of projects for selected slums; Intends to participation, sustainable environment, safety and security of citizens (particularly
improve housing, basic civic infrastructure and social amenities in targeted women, children and the elderly), health and education; - Will cover one hundred
slums; - Focuses on slum prevention by providing affordable housing stock to cities with continuation subject to evaluation; - Includes so-called ‘Pan-city
urban poor, for instance, through Affordable Housing in Partnership (AHP) Initiative’ in which ‘smart’ solutions are applied to larger parts of city; - Rs. 48,000
scheme 13 ; - Financial support including Operation and Maintenance (O&M) crores (US$7.081bn) over five years i.e. on an average Rs. 100 crore (US&14.75m)
of scheme target assets provided to implementing agencies per city per year; equal amount to be contributed by the State/ULB, doubling the
total amount available for Smart Cities development.
• Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) OR Housing for All Scheme (HFA), 2015-
2022: - Envisions to provide housing for all by the end of 2022 through slum
rehabilitation with participation of private developers using land as a
resource, promotion of affordable housing for EWS through credit linked
subsidy and in partnership with public and private sectors and subsidy for
beneficiary-led individual house construction; - Designed in three phases to
cover 4041 statutory towns falling under 500 class-I cities - States/UTs, either
through their agencies or in partnership with the private sector ‘encouraged
to develop affordable housing projects’ - Central financial assistance of Rs.1.5
Lakh (US$2,211) per EWS house declared - Rural scheme, Pradhan Mantri
Awaas Yojana – Gramin (Housing For All – Rural) is also being implemented),
with identical per unit subsidies as PMGAY (see below) (Prime Minister's
Office, Government of India, 2016)

• Indira Awaas Yojana (IAY), 1996 onwards, renamed Pradhan Mantri Gramin
Awaas Yojana (PMGAY) in 2016: - Aims to provide housing for the rural poor
(figures in parenthesis apply since 2016) - financial assistance provided for
new construction at Rs.70,000/- (Rs 1.20 lakh) per unit in ‘plain areas’ and
Rs.75,000/- (Rs 1.30 lakh) for hilly areas; beneficiaries can avail of a top-up
loan upto Rs 20,000/- (Rs 70,000/-) under the Differential Rate of Interest
(DRI Scheme) from any Nationalized Bank at an interest rate of 4% pa. -
construction of the houses sole responsibility of beneficiary; engagement of
contractors strictly prohibited, though technical assistance is provided
(Ministry of Urban Development, Government of India)
Recent ‘Missions’ on Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation Green India Mission (GIM): - To increase forest/tree cover to the extent of 5
Lastly, the recent focus on energy and general resource efficiency has spawned a million hectares (mha) and improve quality of forest/tree cover on another 5 mha
number of national initiatives, mostly notably as a product of the National Action of forest/non-forest lands; - To improve/enhance eco-system services like carbon
Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC), which could offer a number of synergies with sequestration and storage (in forests and other ecosystems), hydrological services
the housing sector: and biodiversity; along with provisioning services like fuel, fodder, and timber and
non-timber forest produces (NTFPs); and To increase forest based livelihood
National Mission on Sustainable Habitat (NMSH), 2010: - promoting income of about 3 million households14.
understanding of climate change, its adaptation and mitigation, energy efficiency
and natural resource conservation; - On adaptation, climate change impacts on
human settlements and infrastructure ‘addressed’ in relation to water, sanitation,
energy, transportation, healthcare, fire services and other forms of emergency
measures; - On mitigation, covers extension of Energy Conservation Building Code
(ECBC) into commercial and residential sector, better urban planning, modal shift
towards public transport, recycling of materials, and urban waste management
with focus on Waste-to-Energy; - No information on the level to which NMSH is
resourced.

National Mission for Enhanced Energy Efficiency (NMEEE): - Information on

NMEEE is limited, with four main components listed: - Perform, Achieve and Trade
Scheme (PAT), a regulatory instrument to reduce specific energy consumption in
energy intensive industries; - Market Transformation for Energy Efficiency (MTEE),
for accelerating the shift to energy efficient appliances; - Energy Efficiency
Financing Platform (EEFP), for creation of mechanisms that would help finance
demand side management programmes in all sectors by capturing future energy
savings; - Framework for Energy Efficient Economic Development (FEEED), for
development of fiscal instruments to promote energy efficiency. - Building sector
not mentioned despite potential for reductions in energy consumption.
Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana (PMAY)
was launched in June 2015 as a social welfare flagship program with an aim to
provide affordable housing to urban poor. Under PMAY, it is proposed to build 2
crore houses for urban poor including EWS & LIG in urban areas by the year
2022 through a financial assistance of ₹2 trillion (US$30 billion) from central
government. This Mission has four components:
a) In-situ Slum Redevelopment with private sector participation using land as
resource
b) Affordable Housing through Credit Linked Subsidy
c) Affordable Housing in Partnership with private and public sector
d) Beneficiary-led house construction /enhancement.

Rajiv Awas Yojana (RAY) was an Indian government program that attempted to
help slum dwellers gain appropriate housing and address the processes by
which slums are created and reproduced. It was introduced by the Indian
government's Ministry of Housing and urban poverty Alleviation, which ran from
2013 to 2014. The scheme aimed to make India slum-free by 2022 by providing
people with shelter or housing, free of cost.
Defining ‘Social Housing’ in the Indian context
term ‘affordable housing’ is more commonly used than ‘social housing’ by both
government and external housing sector analysts. The most common
understanding of what constitutes ‘affordable housing’
Semantically, housing can be ‘affordable’ at any income level. For this reason,
this project will use the term ‘social housing’ to signify housing which serves the
housing needs of low-income groups with the provision of ensuring access to
physical, social, environmental and financial well-being. Traditionally, social
housing has been defined as housing that receives some form of public subsidy
or social assistance, either on the supply or demand side.
However, in the Indian context, it does not cover all forms of housing for the
lower income which do not receive public support. For this reason, the following
definition of social housing in the Indian context is put forward.

Current Housing Shortage

The urban housing shortage (excluding the larger rural housing shortage) is
officially estimated to be around 18.78 million dwelling units, aggregating
households living in congested, obsolescent, and homeless conditions, or in non-
serviceable kutccha
The housing stock includes so-called ‘census houses’ in residential use, residential
cum other use and non-residential census houses irrespective of whether
occupied or vacant

Households living in congested conditions were found to be one of the main

factors leading to these housing shortages. Among caste and ethnic groups,
housing shortages were found to be higher for Scheduled Caste households than
Scheduled Tribes and other households, mainly due to congestion.
Karnataka Karnataka is tackling a housing shortage of currently
1.02 million dwelling units. Under JNNURM, of the 45,525
targeted dwelling units, 35,351 units (77%) were completed.
Vacancy rates, as of December 2015, stood at around 17%. The
main challenges revolved around delays in the selection of
beneficiaries or inaccurate identification of beneficiaries.
Drastic increases in the price of land and nonavailability of
Government lands in both rural and urban areas represented a
major challenge in the reaching JNNURM targets. Interestingly,
the state-level Vajpayee Housing Scheme (formerly called the
Ashraya Scheme) delivered 165,614 units in urban areas
between 2000 and 2015,