Low income housing schemes in municipal areas are likely to benefit from the union government signing the loan and project agreements for World Bank (IDA) assistance of US $100 million for low income housing finance project.

Agreement was recently signed between government of India/National Housing Bank(NHB) and the World Bank, says a recent government statement.

The objective of the project is to provide access to sustainable housing finance for low income households, to purchase, build or upgrade their dwellings. The project will have three components including financial support for sustainable and affordable housing. It also includes capacity building of the National Housing Bank (NHB), qualified intermediary institutions, and Qualified Primary Lending Institutions (QPLIs) and project implementation.

Expected results to be achieved at the end of the project include an increase in the number of primary lenders active in the low income segments, volume of loans to lower income borrowers, and the number of borrowers in these segments.

According to the technical committee on urban housing shortage constituted by the ministry of housing and urban poverty alleviation, there is an estimated shortage of 18.78 million units at the beginning of 12th Five Year Plan (2012). Thus approximately 96% of housing shortage pertains to the urban poor categorized as EWS and LIG. The state-wise details of shortage among different categories of households has not been assessed by the committee.

Courtesy : Porus Dadabhoy