Funding gap may stump ‘Housing for All’ goal

Home » Funding gap may stump ‘Housing for All’ goal

The government‘s promise to provide ‘Housing for All’ by 2022 faces a severe funding crunch even as implementation is running behind schedule.

GS-II: Social Justice (Welfare Schemes, Government Policies and Interventions)

The Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Urban) Programme launched by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation (MoHUPA), in Mission mode envisions provision of Housing for All by 2022, when the Nation completes 75 years of its Independence.
The Mission seeks to address the housing requirement of urban poor including slum dwellers through following programme verticals:
Slum rehabilitation of Slum Dwellers with participation of private developers using land as a resource
Promotion of Affordable Housing for weaker section through credit linked subsidy
Affordable Housing in Partnership with Public & Private sectors
Subsidy for beneficiary-led individual house construction /enhancement.
The mission seeks to address the housing requirement of urban poor including slum dwellers. A slum is defined as a compact area of at least 300 people or about 60 – 70 households of poorly built congested tenements in unhygienic environment usually with inadequate infrastructure and lacking in proper sanitary and drinking water facilities.
Mission will be implemented as Centrally Sponsored Scheme (CSS) except for the component of credit linked subsidy which will be implemented as a Central Sector Scheme.
“Housing for All” Mission for urban area is being implemented during 2015-2022 and this Mission will provide central assistance to implementing agencies through States and UTs for providing houses to all eligible families/beneficiaries by 2022.

The Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana- Gramin (PMAY-G) was launched to achieve the objective of “Housing for All” by 2022. The erstwhile rural housing scheme Indira Awaas Yojana (IAY) was restructured to Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana-Gramin (PMAY-G).
Ministry of Rural development is involved in the implementation of Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana- Gramin (PMAY-G).
PMAY-G aims to provide a pucca house with basic amenities to all rural families, who are homeless or living in kutcha or dilapidated houses by the end of March 2022 and also to help rural people Below the Poverty Line (BPL) in construction of dwelling units and upgradation of existing unserviceable kutcha houses by providing assistance in the form of a full grant.
People belonging to SCs/STs, freed bonded labourers and non-SC/ST categories, widows or next-of-kin of defence personnel killed in action, ex-servicemen and retired members of the paramilitary forces, disabled persons and minorities will be the target beneficiaries of the PMAY-G.
The cost of unit assistance is shared between Central and State Governments in the ratio 60:40 in plain areas and 90:10 for North Eastern and hilly states.

The Centre had promised to build 50 million houses by 2022 under the PM Awas Yojana (PMAY) unveiled in 2015, but even a subsequently scaled down target of around 30 million may be difficult to meet by next year 2022, as there is a ‘large’ ₹1.24 lakh crore funding gap to be bridged in the next eighteen months.
With 1.5 years to go, against the revised targets, less than 20 million houses have been sanctioned and less than 15 million have been completed through PMAY-Rural till April 2021, implying completion of 67% of the revised target and 72% of the sanctioned houses.
While the COVID-19 pandemic is expected to impact the scheme’s performance further in FY2021-22, ICRA reckoned that funding posed a bigger challenge.

-Source: The Hindu