Page 49 - 15MAR2019E

real estate

innovative solutions. These draw on housing, 11.09 million urban proper- negotiate the rent and the length of the
the best practices in micro-finance but ties remained vacant across India. In lease. Rules with respect to eviction also
remain adapted to the classical housing most states in India, traditionally, rent need to be reformed to restore balance
finance paradigm. This has been highly control laws have disproportionately between the rights of the tenant and
successful wherever Governments protected the tenant. Consequently, the owner.
are offering long-term tenancies and we have the paradoxical situation of India’s flagship housing programme
shared-ownership housing in a sup- unsatisfied demand for rental housing Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY)
portive context. But the sector is still while many units lie vacant. It is time has not been able to make substantial
in need of a more sustainable business the government puts rental housing to dent. The PMAY is a revamped scheme
model to grow. use .The share of rental housing in over- that was earlier called the Indira Awaas
One major cause of India’s aggravat- all housing has been steadily declining. Yojana (IAY) The IAY was launched in
ing problem is the weak legal structure According to census data, it dropped the 1980s and gave the rural poor a cash
for handling rental housing. Accord- from 54 per cent in 1961 to 28 per cent incentive of 70,000 to build a home.
ing to census data, the share of rental in 2011. There is clearly need for replac- The new scheme offers monetary sub-
housing in total housing fell from 54 ing the current rent control laws by a sidies of 1.2 lakh to 1.3 lakh for con-
per cent in 1961 to 28 per cent in 2011. In modern tenancy law, which would give structing rural houses and 1.3 lakh to
2011, despite a severe shortage of rental full freedom to tenant and owner to 2.6 lakh for urban houses. It includes

The lack of official
land titles is a major
impediment to the
acquisition of housing
finance. People do not
have documentary
proof of being owners
of the piece of land on
which they live. Many
low-income villagers
have owned their land
for generations

slightly better off lower-middle income
groups who have never owned a home
and provides interest subsidy on funds
borrowed for the acquisition of houses.
The scheme has done well by making it
inclusive regardless of size of house or
loan, but it limits the support from gov-
ernment to a ceiling subject to other
norms
The housing sector demands high
level of creativity .The conventional bu-
reaucratic approach and thinking and
existing laws can merely scratch the
problem.
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