Exploring opportunities for outreach of Affordable Housing to the Urban Poor, in collaboration with Magicbricks

01 September 2016, New Delhi

GIZ- Inclusive Cities Partnership Programme (ICPP) in collaboration with the Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation (MoHUPA) under the Indo-German Cooperation is supporting promotion of rental housing especially among the urban poor. This is in alignment with the National Urban Rental Housing Policy (NURHP) draft that acknowledges institutionalisation of informal rental housing and encourages use of technological solutions to promote rental housing.

ICPP in partnership with Magicbricks is using Information Technological (IT) solutions to improve access to rental housing prevalent among the urban poor. The web portal and mobile application would work as an interface between the owners and the tenants. Also, a database of rental housing options catering to the urban poor is created. Taking case studies in Delhi, Noida, Gurgaon and Ghaziabad, Magicbricks has captured the rental housing market trends in these areas. In this context, a one day workshop “Stimulating Access to Affordable Housing -Through a Web Portal”- Exploring Opportunities for Outreach of Affordable Housing to the Urban Poor, was organised on 01 September, 2016, at Indian Habitat Centre, New Delhi. The objective was to understand the trends and barriers in promoting access to affordable rental housing for the urban poor.

The workshop was attended by the Joint Secretary (Housing), MoHUPA; Joint Secretary (HFA), MoHUPA; State Government representatives from Odisha, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu; representation from National Housing Bank (NHB), GIZ; Human Settlements Management Institute (HSMI); Centre for Policy and Research, Panchayat Heads from Urban Villages of Delhi; experts from real estate sector and Magicbricks.

The session-wise deliberations in the workshop were focused on the following themes:

• Strategies for Promoting Rental Housing through a Web Portal among Urban Poor
• Web Based Solutions for the Outreach of Credit Linked Subsidy Scheme (CLSS) under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY)
• Effectiveness of State Policies on Affordable Housing

In the inaugural session, Mr. Rajiv Ranjan Mishra, Joint Secretary (Housing), MoHUPA, gave an overview of the draft NURHP. Mr. Frank Samol, Project Director, GIZ-ICPP, presented the European perspective on rental housing and highlighted the challenges of rental housing in India. While setting the context for the workshop, Ms. Aparna Das, Senior Advisor, GIZ-ICPP, shared how her online auto-rickshaw booking experiences translated to the idea of developing an online portal and a mobile app for improving access to rental housing.

In the first session, Ms. Jayashree Kurup, Research & Content Head, Magicbricks, presented the outcomes of the studies conducted in five areas of Delhi NCR region and the possible strategies to promote rental listings. Ms. Mukta Naik, Urban Planner, Centre for Policy Research (CPR), highlighted that high land prices influence the quality of private rental housing provided by real estate sector, as evident from a case study on Gurgaon.

In the second session, Mr. Sriram Kalyanaraman, MD, National Housing Bank (NHB), made a presentation on the monitoring tool developed to track the process of housing loan sanctions and interest subsidy payouts to banks under the CLSS component of PMAY.

In the third session, Mr. Amrit Abhijat, Joint Secretary (HFA), MoHUPA, gave an overview of the status of PMAY scheme and the steps taken for the outreach of CLSS component. Mr. R.K. Agarwal, MD, Rajasthan Avas Vikas Infrastructure Limited (RAVIL), presented the housing policy initiatives of Rajasthan. The representatives from Government of Tamil Nadu, Gujarat and Maharashtra also shared the initiatives taken through their State housing policies and programmes.