Rent vouchers for the urban poor: Centre's new smart city housing scheme

The scheme includes distribution of rent vouchers to migrant population and the urban poor

The Narendra Modi-led NDA government is all set to launch a welfare scheme in 100 smart cities to give rent vouchers to the urban poor which will cost the exchequer Rs 2700 crore, according to a report published by The Economic Times.

   

The government would launch the new rental housing policy with rent vouchers for below poverty line (BPL) families in urban India. Though the policy has been in the works for three years, the first component is likely to be rolled out in the upcoming financial year in smart cities, further reported the financial daily. The scheme is expected to cost Rs 2,713 crore every year to implement in smart cities.

 

Here is how the scheme is expected is work:

 

Aimed directly at the urban poor and helping the migrant population, the scheme would involve the distribution of rent vouchers by urban local bodies.

 

The tenant would give these vouchers to the landowner, who in turn would be able to redeem them at any citizen service bureau.

 

If the rent is higher than the value of rent voucher, the tenant would pay the difference in cash to the landowner.

 

The value of rent voucher would be determined by the urban local body on the basis of class or size of the dwelling unit and the prevalent rent in the city.

 

The government is also exploring the option of direct benefit transfer in this voucher scheme. According to Census 2011, about 27.5% of urban residents lived in rented houses in 2011.

 

However, National Sample Survey (NSS) found that around 35% of urban households lived on rent in 2009. Moreover, according to NSS this proportion has remained steady since 1991. A senior official of housing and urban poverty alleviation ministry told ET, “The rental voucher scheme is being looked at as a means to complement the Prime Minister Housing for All scheme.”

 

The ministry would now prepare a Cabinet note to push the rental voucher scheme. The move comes close to a recommendation by a group of secretaries on health, sanitation and urban development formed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, said the daily.