India eyes tie-ups for affordable housing research, plans dedicated research centre
Drawing from the experience of the first phase of the scheme the ministry of housing and urban affairs will focus on data compilation and statistical analysis to support interventions from the government for affordable housing and ensuring housing for all, said two people in the know of the developments.
The Central Sanctioning and Monitoring Committee for the flagship urban housing scheme, has approved the creation of a research centre for affordable housing as part of PMAY-Urban 2.0 and also suggested study of international experiences in countries like France, Singapore and the Netherlands and consultation with global players including UN Habitat, they said.
"The committee observed that data compilation and statistical analysis to understand housing dynamics keeping in view the vision of 'Viksit Bharat 2047' is the need of the hour. It would support housing-related policy interactions at the central and state levels with relevant data and knowledge inputs for better understanding housing related issues especially in the area of affordable housing, according to the committee," said one of the two people mentioned above.
The person added that the Centre is focusing on statistical analysis for better implementation of the PMAY (Urban) 2.0.
"The committee also suggested consultations with stakeholders like UN-Habitat for cross learnings," the person added. The United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) is mandated by the UN General Assembly to promote socially and environmentally sustainable towns and cities. UN-Habitat is the focal point for all urbanization and human settlement matters within the UN system. Data analytics is considered key for demand analysis in urban planning and UN-Habitat has been a pioneer in the collection of urban indicators data.
According to its website, in India, UN-Habitat is devising an integrated and demand-driven approach that combines refining urban planning and design frameworks, providing infrastructure upgrading policy and technical guidance, implementing pilot projects for learning-by-doing and mainstreaming innovations through testing technology solutions to transform India's urban landscape.
UN-Habitat's Strategic Plan 2020-2025 emphasizes on increased and secure access to land and adequate and affordable housing.
The focus on data analytics gains significance as India's housing for all goal which was initially targeted to be achieved by 2022, is yet to be achieved and the second phase of the PMAY Urban scheme is aimed at providing all-weather houses to people in urban areas including through affordable housing projects and rental housing programmes.
The Union cabinet in August last year approved PMAY-U 2.0, under which financial assistance is provided to 10 million urban poor and middle-class families through state government and union territories to build, buy or rent a house at an affordable cost in urban areas in five years.
As of 18 June, a total of 709,979 housing units have been sanctioned under PMAY-U 2.0. On 21 July, Mint reported that vacant affordable homes had prompted the Centre to propose a temporary halt on new projects in some cities and submission of new projects under the second phase in those cities.
According to data provided by the ministry to Parliament in March, out of the 118 million houses sanctioned under PMAY, about 90 million have been completed and 87.5 million occupied.
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