Shortage of 10 million houses in urban areas: Minister

New Delhi, Nov 15 (IANS) Union Housing Minister Hardeep S. Puri on Wednesday said the shortage of houses in urban areas was likely to be over 10 million units and it was being addressed through the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY).

The objective was to make available housing for the Economically Weaker Sections (EWS), Lower Income Groups (LIG) and also the MIG (Middle Income Group) using government land, Puri said while speaking at the RICS Real Estate Conference here on 'Policy, reform and regulation: The backbone of Indian Real Estate'.

"We have also released various PPP (Public Private Partnership) models to encourage housing through private partnership. Among the distinctive features of this scheme are that government will make available the land and in addition provide a subsidy to each allottee and assist in obtaining easy financing from banks for the remaining sum required," a release quoted Puri as saying.

He also said the house would be in the name of the lady individually or co-jointly with the male member of the family.

"This will help gender empowerment. It will have a kitchen and a toilet and serve to help foster security of the girl child," he said.

A revision of the technical study conducted in 2011, which had placed the housing shortage at 18.76 million units in urban areas, found the shortage was around or in excess of 10 million units, he added.

He also said the Real Estate Regulation Act (RERA) would have a long-term transformative effect.

The act was a response to the dire need of Indian consumers and in discharge of the sovereign functions towards public interest, he said.

"We have put in place an eco-system to ensure that real estate sector is properly governed and buyers are empowered. I have absolutely no doubt that the history of real estate in India will be written in two segments, pre and post RERA," he said.

"The pre-RERA phase was characterised by the dreams and ambitions to own a house of many being dashed for a considerable period of time by a few persons exploiting that dream. We are not out of that phase yet."