Govt to promote rental housing scheme as a viable option: Naidu

NEW DELHI: The minister for housing & urban poverty alleviation M Venkaiah Naidu today came out in support of promoting a rental housing stock in the country. He said that rental housing is more inclusive than ownership of homes, which has been the focus of housing interventions by different governments.

"Rental housing offers huge investment opportunity at the bottom of the pyramid given the rising demand for alternative housing option to ownership housing on account of mounting migration," he said while speaking at a National Consultation on Draft National Rental Housing Policy, 2015.

He pointed out that while there is a housing shortage of about 190 lakh units in urban areas of the country, about 110 lakh houses are lying vacant.

Naidu said that rent control laws, low rental yields, poor maintenance, low quality of construction, fear of losing control and emphasis on ownership housing are adversely impacting investments in and availability of rental housing in the country.

At the moment, rental housing in the country accounts for only 11% of total housing stock while it is as high as 35% in the Netherlands, 31% in Hong Kong, 23% in Austria and 20% in the United Kingdom.

The Draft National Rental Housing Policy, 2015 seeks to enable a vibrant and formal Rental Housing sector by adopting regulatory and legal reforms, enhancing fund flows, promoting institutions for constructing, managing, maintenance and creation of rental housing stock, along with necessary incentives, the minister said.