Credai opposes government plan to allocate 35% housing for poor

NEW DELHI: CREDAI, the apex realtors' body, today strongly opposed the government's proposal for reserving 35 per cent of the housing units for poor, saying this would result in rise in prices for the middle-class people.

"Such a directive, without any incentives to the developer community, would only burden the open market buyers, mainly the middle income group, which will be forced to cross-subsidise the LIG or EWS," said a CREDAI memorandum to Union Minister for Housing and Poverty Alleviation Ajay Maken.

CREDAI, with has over 8,800 members across India, has sought time with Maken to discuss various issues concerning the housing industry.

"The government should model the housing policy to suit the poor in such a way to encourage developers to rush for it rather than taking compulsory steps which ultimately might be counterproductive as they could lead to a fall in the housing stock," CREDAI President Lalit Kumar Jain said.

The demand-supply mismatch is one of the reasons for the market price movement and any further fall in the housing stock would only contribute to rise in prices, CREDAI argued.