Housing for All by 2022 scheme launched, interest relief for urban poor

New Delhi Government on Wednesday launched its Housing for All by 2022 mission and approved a substantial increase in interest relief on loan for the urban poor to promote affordable homesThe Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi accepted the recommendations of an InterMinisterial Committee to increase interest subvention to 650 per cent on housing loans to beneficiaries belonging to economic weaker section EWS including slum dwellers and low income groups LIGs The Cabinets decision benefits urban poor by an amount of Rs 230 lakh each and as a result this the monthly EMI would come down to Rs 2852 per monthAccording to a senior Housing and Urban Poverty Department Alleviation official at present with the interest rate of 1050 per cent current EMI on admissible loan component of Rs 6 lakh over 15year loan duration works out to be Rs 6632 per month With Cabinet deciding on creditlinked subsidy to 650 per cent EMI comes down to Rs 4050 per month benefiting the urban poor by Rs 2582 per month he saidOn the whole central assistance in the range of Rs 1 lakh to Rs 230 lakh per beneficiary would be provided under different components of the National Urban Housing Mission in urban areas to build 2 crore new houses to meet the housing shortage over the next 7 yearsAs per the earlier approval of the Union Cabinet there are four components to the National Urban Housing Mission Under the redevelopment plan of slums with the participation of private developers using land as a resource component a central grant of Rs 1 lakh on an average per beneficiary would be provided StatesUnion Territories are at liberty to use this grant for any slum redevelopment schemes to be taken up to make such projects viable if requiredIn the second caetgory affordable housing through credit linked subsidy scheme an interest subsidy of 650 per cent on each housing loan to EWS and LIG beneficiaries would be provided by the central governmentUnder third component of affordable housing in partnership with private and public sectors central assistance of Rs 150 lakh to each beneficiary would be provided to promote housing stock for urban poor with the involvement of private and public sectors provided 35 per cent of dwelling units of the projects proposed are earmarked for EWS categoryFor the fourth category of subsidy for individual beneficiaryled construction or enhancement of houses a central assistance of Rs 150 lakh would be provided to each eligible urban poor beneficiary to enable him build his own house or undertake improvements to existing housesThe housing stock demand may further increase further to the demand assessment to be made by the states and UTs based on online registration through integration of Adhaar Number of Jan Dhan Yojana accounts Union Cabinet while broadly approving the urban component of Housing for All scheme on February 19 had desired an InterMinisterial Committee to further fine tune the Urban Housing MissionThe Committee subsequently held a series of meetings before coming out with their recommendations According to the Cabinet decision interest subsidy under Affordable Housing through Credit Linked Subsidy component of Urban Housing Mission would increase by Rs 50000 to Rs 110000 for each beneficiaryAt present housing loans for affordable housing would be available at only 4 per cent The Urban Housing Mission will be taken up in all the 4041 cities and towns Initially focus would be on 500 cities and towns with a population of one lakh and above each as they account for about 75 per cent of urban populationHundred such cities will be included in Phase1 20015March 2017 and 200 cities in Phase2 April 2017March 2019 and the remaining would be covered during 201922 The Credit Linked Subsidy Scheme would however be implemented in all cities and towns from the current year onwardsUnder the Housing Mission in urban areas houses of upto 30 sqm carpet area would be built with basic civic infrastructure like water sewerage roads power and telephone lines and social infrastructure such as community centres parks and play grounds livelihood centres etcStatesUTs are given flexibility in this regard to make necessary changes as deemed appropriate by them in consultation with the Central Government StatesUTs are also given the flexibility in appraising and approving the housing projects at their level to enable faster implementation of the schemeRegistration of houses built under the Mission would either be in the name of women or jointly in the name of wife and husband In order to provide an enabling environment facilitating construction of houses especially affordable housing for weaker sections in the country by easing supplyside regulations and administrative constraints government has proposed certain mandatory provisions to follow by the state governmentsIt has suggested statesUTs to do away with permissions for land use conversion if agricultural land is already included in the residential zone in Master Plans StatesUTs have been asked to prepareamend Master Plans earmarking land for Affordable Housing using innovative methods such as land poolingThe provisions envisage adoption of the approach of deemed building permissions and layout approvals on the basis of preapproved layouts and building plans for EWS and LIG StatesUTs are being asked to amend existing rental laws and also for putting in place a mechanism for timebound clearances for layout approvals and building plans by the urban local bodies