Under Delhi slum rehab policy, family member living separately may not be entitled to separate unit

New DelhiThe Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board (DUSIB), ahead of implementing the Delhi Slum and Jhuggi Jhopri Rehabilitation and Relocation Policy, 2026, has clarified that people of one family living separately in a jhuggi will not automatically entitle the family member living separately to a rehabilitation dwelling

New Delhi

An official said that one of the clearest exclusions is an unmarried adult son living separately on another floor. (Representative photo)

The Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board (DUSIB), ahead of implementing the Delhi Slum and Jhuggi Jhopri Rehabilitation and Relocation Policy, 2026, has clarified that people of one family living separately in a jhuggi will not automatically entitle the family member living separately to a rehabilitation dwelling.

Explaining the policy provisions, an official said that one of the clearest exclusions is an unmarried adult son living separately on another floor.

“Such a case can be considered for a separate unit only if he has a separate ration card or electricity connection issued before January 1, 2025, with the document showing the address of the floor where he resides,” the official, who did not wish to be named, said.

Delhi has approximately 750 slum clusters housing over 400,000 families. The policy focuses on in-situ redevelopment and relocation, providing eligible slum dwellers with modern 25 square-metre flats equipped with civic amenities. The board’s order states that separate dwelling units will be considered only for families that meet the eligibility cut-off for rehabilitation as of January 1, 2025.

The official said that the provision means that married sons living separately from their parents or on other floors of the same unit may qualify for an individual dwelling unit. In cases where an entire family, including parents, married children and grandchildren, is living together on the same floor, it will be treated as one family and will be eligible for one dwelling unit.

The board has approved illustrations to remove ambiguity over these provisions. Four sets of illustrative examples have been exhibited to show that the policy is not based merely on physical occupation of separate floors, but on whether the occupants can establish themselves as separate eligible families under the prescribed documentation requirements.

The Delhi Slum and Jhuggi Jhopri Rehabilitation and Relocation Policy, 2026, formally adopts a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model for in-situ redevelopment, allowing developers to build rehabilitation housing for eligible slum residents in return for development rights over commercially valuable portions of the land. Unlike the 2015 rehabilitation policy, where the government remained the principal implementing agency, the policy emphasises financial viability, mixed-use redevelopment and private participation.