Haryana government drafts policy for affordable rental housing projects
The Haryana government has come up with a policy for the development of rental housing projects meant only for local and migrant workers, who are not in a position to buy property due to financial reasons.
This rental housing policy — the draft of which was made public on Monday — aims to facilitate the development of apartments in the affordable segment exclusively for corporate executives, and industrial and migrant workers.
As per the officials of the department of town and country planning(DTCP), all housing projects developed under the affordable rental policy can only be offered on rent for a minimum period of one year and maximum period of 99 years. These units, however, cannot be sold under the Haryana Apartment Ownership Act or under any other existing laws. This is meant to ensure that the ownership of project remains undivided, said officials.
To encourage the participation of corporates and industries, the policy allows the developer to enter into tie-ups with one or more industrial units or corporates to cater to the housing requirements for their workers on both short-term and long-term basis.
DTCP officials said that projects across the state will be granted permission and minimum area required for setting up a project would be 0.5 acres while the maximum area would be 2 acres. The proposed site should have an access road of minimum 12 metres, the draft policy states.
The minimum and maximum number of persons allowed per acre would be 1,000 and 1,600 respectively. The policy proposes to fix the floor area ratio at 250, the ground coverage at 50% and keeps 4% area for the development of commercial establishments like shops. The size of the apartments would be between 20 square metres and 50 square metres.
The developer will also have to provide parking for two-wheelers depending on the area. A facility for a community hall and anganwari-cum-creche would also have to be a part of these affordable rental housing projects, the draft policy states.
Makrand Pandurang, director, DTCP, said that this policy has been drafted to ensure that affordable housing is made available to those people who want it on rent. “The chief minister had announced this plan in his budget speech and this policy aims to provide rental housing to industrial and migrant workers, who are in the need of affordable housing. Further, such projects will be easier to set up as only CLU (change of land use) permission will required,” Pandurang said, adding that small plots in villages, labour clusters and leftover plots can be developed for these projects.
A senior DTCP official said that the decision on rent would be based on area, facilities and location but will be kept within affordable limits. “The decision on rent will be taken at the time of finalising this policy and it will be reasonable so that working-class people can afford it. A monitoring committee headed by deputy commissioner and senior DTCP officials will keep a close watch on every aspect, including rentals,” he said.
City-based developers, meanwhile, said that affordable rental policy was positive move with huge potential in the near future. “This policy will create newer avenues for housing for the common people. However, there should not be a cap on the project area and the sale of individual units should be allowed because individual investors will not be able put their money in these projects as they do it in commercial real estate projects,” said Pradeep Agarwal, managing director, Signature Developer, an affordable housing company.
