Parliamentary committee asks government how many projects under affordable rental scheme for poor have been approved

The Housing Ministry had informed Parliament that 66 proposals had been received

A Parliamentary panel has asked the government to clarify how many of the 66 proposals received under the Affordable Rental Housing Scheme launched for the urban poor, especially migrant workers, during the COVID-19 pandemic have been approved by their respective local urban bodies.

The Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation had informed Parliament that 66 proposals have been received from public/private entities for the construction of 1,02,019 units in 18 States and Union Territories which are being evaluated by the respective urban local body and are in the process of getting necessary approvals.

The Parliamentary committee on Assurances of Rajya Sabha has said in its report submitted on December 21, 2022, that the implementation report of the ministry did not “clearly mention how many proposals, out of 66 proposals received for construction of 1,02,019 units which were being evaluated by the respective urban local bodies and were in the process of getting necessary approvals”.

The committee said that reverse migration during COVID-19 had exposed the harsh realities of millions of invisibles who live in cities, and are an integral part of the urban economy, but have no place in urban planning and housing programmes. “Schemes such as Affordable Rental Housing Complexes (ARHCs) may give them a ray of hope and instil faith in the country’s governance”.

“The committee, therefore, recommends that the ministry should pro-actively complete the construction of these affordable pro-poor rental houses under the scheme and furnish the revised implementation report incorporating the details of the number of proposals received from public/private entities for the construction of 1,02,019 units in 18 States/UTs approved and to liquidate the assurance at the earliest,” it said.

The ARHC had been launched as a sub-scheme of the existing Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-Urban (PMAY-U) to provide affordable rental housing to the urban poor, especially migrants, close to their workplace.

The scheme is implemented through two models. Model-1 was utilising existing government-funded vacant houses to convert into ARHCs through Public Private Partnership or by Public Agencies and Model-2 was the construction, operation and maintenance of ARHCs by public/private entities on their available vacant land.