January 16th, 2008 
krishna The year 2007 saw an unprecedented boom in Indian real estate sector with foreign investors pouring their money into India and some of the big domestic players making it big by launching several real estate projects. The outlook for 2008 also remains quite positive. However, one question that now haunts everybody is where are affordable homes for poor and the marginalized?
With Central and state housing agencies having failed to meet the demand in the “affordable homes” category and the private sector players more keen on multiplying their profits through high end housing and commercial projects, a worrying scenario is fast emerging visa-vis meeting the basic requirement of shelter for the poor and the marginalised.
In this context, the three-day NATCON 2008 organised by the CREDAI was a timely one as suggestions poured in from the government as well as realtors to address this important aspect in the real estate growth story.
Minister of state for housing and poverty alleviation Kumari Selja, who was present at the inaugural session of NATCON 2008, that got over, stressed that governmental effort alone would not suffice to provide housing for the poor and the private players will have to compliment and supplement public sector bodies efforts to really make a difference.
“The urban housing backlog with increased urbanization in India assumes alarming proportions, especially for the Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) and Low Income Groups (LIG), which constitute more than 99 per cent share of total housing shortage of 24.71 million in urban areas,” Selja said. “This magnitude of backlog is evident by the fact that 21 per cent of our total urban population lives in slums or slum like conditions and 35 per t cent of the households are one-room tenements,” she pointed out.
Public housing agencies have been in the forefront of providing housing for the EWS. Given the magnitude of the housing shortage and budgetary constraints of both Central and state governments, it is amply clear that public sector efforts will not suffice in fulfilling the housing demand.
“Therefore, the private sector has to play a more proactive role in taking up housing programmes on a massive scale for the poor and low-income groups with social commitments,” the minister said.
In the context, she said the Central government intends to involve the private sector in the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) for completion of 1.5 million dwelling units in the country by the end of 2012.
Government shall be a partner by providing enabling environment through incentives and concessions for low income housing. She further added.
Union minister for urban development Jaipal S. Reddy stated that “State governments should give incentives to builders for constructing small housing units/apartments”. Expressing his thoughts on the theme of the convention, “Real Estate for all”, CREDAI Chairperson Kumar Gera said, “Though the real estate sector in the country is growing at a stupendous rate, it is not benefiting all.”
“The sum total of direct and indirect taxes, duties and levies amounts to a very significant figure, almost in excess of 25 per cent, for a housing unit that has a pan India average cost of Rs 2,700 sq ft. This negates the impact of this boom and widens the gap between what one can afford and what is available. Therefore there is an urgent need to find ways to reduce these costs in order to decrease the price of the end product,” he said.
“The way to make available affordable housing could be through setting up of ‘Special Residential Zones’ that would enjoy various exemptions, as in the case of the SEZs. These SRZ’s would have small residential units below 60-70 sq. mtrs that would make available large-scale affordable housing for the masses,” he said.
CREDAI President Rajni Ajmera said “Natcon 2008 is CREDAI’s attempt to bring together developers, real estate professionals, policy makers, financial institutions and investors under one roof to debate, discuss and explore the new avenues in the real estate sector in India.
The three-day convention had discussions and deliberations on topics such as -policies and regulatory environment, real estate indices and developer rating, reforms in real estate, affordable housing: Making it reality on PPP and future of real estate in the next five years, shifting ownership patterns and influence of FDI, new dynamics in retail/ hospitality/entertainment and expected role of government and private sector in real estate.
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