AFFORDABLE RENTAL HOUSING COMPLEXES (ARHC) – GOVERNMENT SCHEME
News: Parliamentary
committee seeks details of rental housing scheme
What's in the news?
● A
Parliamentary panel has asked the Government to clarify how many of the 66
proposals received under the Affordable Rental Housing Scheme (ARHC) launched
for the urban poor, especially migrant workers, during the COVID-19 pandemic
have been approved by their respective local urban bodies.
Key takeaways:
● 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.
Why ARHCs?
● The
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.
ARHC:
● 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.
● Ministry:
The Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation.
Implementation:
The
scheme is implemented through two models.
Go back to basics:
Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana - Urban (PMAY-U):
● It
is a flagship Mission of Government of India being implemented by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs
(MoHUA).
● It
was launched on 25th June 2015 and addresses urban housing shortage among the EWS/LIG and MIG categories including the
slum dwellers by ensuring a pucca house to all eligible urban households by the
year 2022, when Nation completes 75 years of its Independence.
● PMAY(U)
adopts a demand driven approach wherein the Housing shortage is decided based
on demand assessment by States/Union Territories.
● The
scheme got extended to another two years to 31.03.2024.
Coverage:
● It
covers the entire urban area consisting of 4041
statutory towns with initial focus on 500 Class I cities.
Components of PMAY-U:
The
programme has 4 components such as
● Credit
Link Subsidy Scheme (CLSS).
● In-situ
rehabilitation of existing slum dwellers using land as a resource through private
participation.
● Affordable
Housing in Partnership (AHP).
● Subsidy
for beneficiary led - individual house construction/enhancement.
Features:
● The
government would provide an interest subsidy of 6.5% on housing loans availed
by the beneficiaries for a period of 15 years from the start of loan.
● The
houses under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana would be allotted to preferably the female member of the family.
● All
houses under PMAY (U) have basic
amenities like toilets, water supply, electricity and kitchen.
● Convergence
with the Swachh Bharat Mission-Gramin (SBM-G), MGNREGS, or any other dedicated
source of financing will be used to fund the construction of toilets.
● Convergence
for piped drinking water, electricity, and LPG gas connections, among other
things, will be sought by several government programmers.