Delhi’s TOD policy could add up to a million affordable homes: MoHUA

New Delhi: Delhi could add up to a million affordable homes under the recently approved transit-oriented development (TOD) policy, a senior official at the Union ministry of housing and urban affairs (MoHUA) said at a World Habitat Day event on Monday

New Delhi: Delhi could add up to a million affordable homes under the recently approved transit-oriented development (TOD) policy, a senior official at the Union ministry of housing and urban affairs (MoHUA) said at a World Habitat Day event on Monday.

Delhi’s TOD policy could add up to a million affordable homes: MoHUA

D Thara, secretary, department of capital development, MoHUA, said that under the present policy, TOD has been combined with affordable housing, under which a floor area ratio (FAR) of five could be used along transit corridors within 500 metres of the metro, with 65% of that FAR to be used for housing of 60 square metres carpet area or less.

“So the new policy has opened up 20,000 hectares in Delhi, which could yield up to 40 lakh homes. But we expect at least 5-10 lakh homes out of this under affordable housing,” she said. Thara said the larger objective should be to rethink housing policy around affordability, climate and functionality. “We need to really look at houses as a space for humans and redesign in terms of cost, climate adaptation and functionality.”

The 2011 Census (latest) recorded 47,076 homeless people and 1.785 million slum residents in Delhi. Further, a 2024 headcount survey by an NGO had estimated 300,000 homeless people in the city.

Speaking at the event organised by the ministry, Thara said, “House is an emotion; it’s not so much a constructed space,” but also argued that functionality should take priority. “It is a place which protects you from all the vagaries of climate and also gives an intricate space to bond with your near and dear ones and then also provides space for providing services for your family... We build a big drawing room, and then have a very small kitchen.”

Thara also called for greener residential areas and cleaner water bodies. “We need to create a black-to-blue movement where the streams become blue. The water, if not clean to drink, should be at least clean to look at,” she said.

United Nations secretary-general Antonio Guterres said lack of adequate housing is a global problem and is not limited to India or Delhi, with more than three billion people denied the universal right, and more than one billion living in informal settlements and slums, in his message read out by Stefan Priesner, UN Resident Coordinator, United Nations India.

He also flagged homelessness and displacement caused by conflict, disasters and climate change.

“Investing in adequate housing and transforming informal settlements reduces poverty, tackles inequality, builds climate resilience and fosters peaceful and inclusive societies,” the message read.

“This demands coordinated action at every level, with national and local governments shaping bold policies, building partnerships and grounding decisions in sound data.”