CHENNAI: The State government has been holding discussions on providing affordable rental homes for migrant workers after the Union government gave the nod.Sources from the labour department said no policy decision in this regard has been taken but discussions are on. “It is at the nascent stage,” a labour department official said. It is learnt that there are more than four lakh migrant workers in Tamil Nadu and most have left following the pandemic.
The Affordable Rental Housing Complexes (ARHCs) scheme under the Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs is a sub-scheme under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Urban) with an estimated expenditure of around `600 crore. The scheme aims to cover nearly three lakh beneficiaries initially. The scheme would cover workforce in manufacturing industries, service providers in hospitality, health, domestic/commercial establishments, and construction or other sectors, labourers and students who come from rural areas or small towns.
Vanessa Peter, policy researcher, IRCDUC, said, “Rental housing should be made available for the most vulnerable sections of the populations including the inter-state and inter-district migrant workers, women-headed households, and for those residing in informal settlements for ‘rent’. In-built mechanisms for robust monitoring and evaluation processes like social audit and appointment of ombudsperson must be included.”
Builders Association of India (BAI) and the Confederation of Real Estate Developers’ Association of India (CREDAI) have welcomed the move. The Centre has offered special incentives like use permission, 50 per cent additional floor area ratio or floor space index, concessional loan at priority sector lending rates and tax reliefs at par with affordable housing, among others, for private and public entities to develop ARHCs on their own available vacant land for 25 years.
S Sridharan, CREDAI chairman, Tamil Nadu Chapter, told Express that to provide rental housing for migrant workers, the government has to provide land for it to be cheaper. “How the scheme will work under public-private partnership will be decided only after it is being implemented,” he said. BAI state treasurer S Ramaprabhu said that it may not lure the private sector but the scheme could be implemented using shelter charges collected by the government from the developer where the Floor Space Index (Build up area) exceeds 4,000 square metres. “The rate of shelter charges payable is one per cent of the Guideline Value of FSI exceeding 4,000 square metres,” says Ramaprabhu.
The state housing policy too suggests facilitation of online rental housing portals for economically weaker sections (EWS) and low-income groups. The State is identifying surplus lands with various government departments within Chennai.