CHENNAI: The State has a housing shortage of 9 per cent, which includes 5.37 lakh married couples living in single rooms and 1.05 lakh living in dilapidated buildings, according to a recent inception report of the Tamil Nadu State Urban Housing and Habitat Policy.
The report based its findings on the parameters set by the Technical Group on Urban Housing Shortage, wherein housing shortage was measured by considering households residing in unacceptable houses, which include non-serviceable or kutcha houses without basic water supply and sanitation, obsolescent houses or dilapidated homes that are over 80 years old and congested houses, where there are more than one married couple per room.
The report said 66 per cent of housing shortage in the State is due to couples living in congested houses (more than one couple living in a room). In 2001, Tamil Nadu had a shortage of 5.02 lakh (7.9 per cent) while in 2011, the housing shortage increased to 8.18 lakh (9.1 per cent). The pan-India housing shortage is 18.78 million (23.2 per cent). As per the data, the housing stock in urban areas has grown at a higher rate as compared with urban households in urban India.
In 2001, the State had 63.81 lakh urban households while the available housing stock was 57.84 lakh. This was reduced in 2011, where in the total urban households was 89.97 lakh while the available housing stock was 89.17 lakh. Households in India are estimated to be 80.89 million with available housing stock being 78.48 million. The report states that despite reduction in the gap between the number of households and the available housing stock, there is an increase in housing shortage in the State, including in Chennai and Coimbatore. However, the availability of housing supply does not serve the needy households. As such, it does not negate the issue of housing shortage.
Ownership of homes in urban areas of Tamil Nadu is quite low when compared with the national figure. The ownership ratio in the State was 57 per cent in 2011 as compared to urban India’s 67 per cent.
Similarly, the share of rented housing increased during 2001-11 in the State. Rented houses account for 40 per cent of census houses in urban areas of Tamil Nadu. It is quite high in Chennai and Coimbatore where the rented housing ratio is 50 per cent and 53 per cent of the census houses, respectively.
The report stated that public-sector housing would not be able to meet the housing demand of rapidly increasing households. Government interventions and policies should focus on enabling private sector to provide houses.
Factfile
1. Tamil Nadu has the highest composition of rental housing
in India
2. Ownership ratio is quite low in urban Tamil Nadu (57 per cent in 2011) as compared to urban India (67 per cent in 2011)
3. Chennai (50 per cent) and Coimbatore (53 per cent) have the highest ratio of rental homes in the State
4. The vacancy rate of homes is 6 per cent as compared with urban India’s average of 10 per cent in 2011
5. With an average household size of 3.96, there are about 14.6 lakh slum households in urban Tamil Nadu
6. Nearly 50 per cent of slum households of urban Tamil Nadu and around 75 per cent of slum households in Chennai and Coimbatore are not part of housing shortage
66
The Tamil Nadu State Urban Housing and Habitat Policy said 66 per cent of housing shortage in the State is due to couples living in congested houses (more than one couple living in a room)
1.03 lakh
During 2001-11, around 1.03 lakh housing units were sanctioned under government schemes and this accounted for only 4 per cent of urban households