More than a crore houses in urban areas are empty: India's housing secretary

With more than one crore houses empty in the country, many owners have their own apprehensions on renting them out, the central government will soon bring a new law on rental housing and this will lead to a more structured approach in the housing sector- both in urban and rural areas. The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs has been working on finding ways to resurrect the affordable rental housing sector.

New Delhi: The central government will soon bring a new law on rental housing and this will lead to a more structured approach in the housing sector- both in urban and rural areas, said Durga Shankar Mishra, Secretary in the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) in New Delhi on Thursday.

Asserting that more than a crore houses are empty in the country because many owners have their own apprehensions on renting them out, Mishra said, "We must think of a tweak in our master plans so that we can use the empty areas for affordable rental housing."

The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs has been working on finding ways to resurrect the affordable rental housing sector.

"Workers who come from outside, especially in big cities, need a place to stay at affordable prices. Their children also need to get the best of chances to get educated, so that they too can dream big and rise in life and contribute towards the nation's growth," said Mishra.

Amrit Abhijat, joint secretary in the MoHUA said that for the first time, "government is trying to help the private sector through incentivising the policy approach and ate open to new ideas on what more we could do to make affordable housing a reality."

Caught under Covid19 pandemic, the Union Cabinet has recently approved the development of affordable rental housing complex to ensure that migrant workers in cities have decent and affordable places to live.

Officials said that migrant workers including construction workers, service providers in hospitality, health, students among others will be able to avail the rental housing.

Secretary Mishra observed that such housing schemes will offer dignified living spaces to a large part of the workforce who migrant to different areas in search of employment.

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