Urban housing shortage estimate at 24.71 million units, says government
22 Nov 2007
A technical group on ''estimation of housing shortage'' has estimated housing shortage of 24.71 million units at the end of the 10th five-year plan in urban areas. According to minister of state for housing and urban poverty alleviation Kumari Selja out of this, 99 per cent of the shortage pertains to housing for the economically weaker sections and low income groups.
Responding to question in the Rajya Sabha today, she said that the centre had launched the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) to cope with the problem of shortage in housing and infrastructure services in a mission mode for 63 select cities under basic services to urban poor (BSUP).
For the remaining cities a scheme, ''integrated housing and slum development programme'' (IHSDP) had also been launched under JNNURM. The component of assistance under the scheme includes upgradation and new construction of houses and infrastructural facilities like water supply and sanitation as part of slum improvement.
Both BSUP and IHSDP are demand driven schemes and the fixation of targets as well as quantum of progress depends upon proposals submitted by state governments and local bodies, Kumari Selja added.
The minister also said that the centre was concerned about the rise in prices of houses and with a view of providing interest rate subsidy for housing loans availed by the urban poor including SCs / STs, has made a budget provision of Rs30.00 crore in the financial year 2007-08.
In response to another query, she said in a written reply that a task force was constituted to prepare a national urban housing and habitat policy under the chairmanship of the then secretary of ministry of urban employment and poverty alleviation in 2005 with representatives from the Planning Commission, ministry of finance and other ministries and departments, state governments and financial and other institutions dealing with the housing sector.
The task force had submitted a formal draft policy to her ministry based on various inputs in the matter of legal, regulatory, financial and technological issues.
She further informed that recommendations of the task force as well as inputs received from various state governments and central ministries, NGOs and other stakeholders had been utilised to formulate a draft ''national urban housing and habitat policy 2007'', which among other issues also envisages measures for augmenting housing stock for economically weaker sections and low income groups.
