PHD Chamber has formulated an eight-point agenda for the government to boost the supply and tackle housing shortage in the country. According to the Chamber, if the supply of housing is allowed by the government agencies on a sustained basis, the shortage will be taken care of within a few years.
Firstly, the supply of land needs to be augmented. Additional land should be brought into urban usage on a regular basis and procedures and processes to bring additional land into the market should be simplified. For proper assessment and allocation of land requirements, master plans should be implemented and its effects should be reviewed on time. To improve the speed of transactions and its execution, computerised land records and application of e-governance to land transactions is essential.
There should be restructuring in the role of State housing boards. Even though auctioning of State-owned land is the most transparent method, the entire procedure for auctioning and bidding for State-owned land should be reviewed.
The process of converting agricultural land, particularly non-arable and fallow land, should be streamlined and a compensation package should be designed to deal with the issues of acquisition of agricultural land. Land Ceiling Act must be relaxed and unused non-agricultural land should be acquired and developed by the State bodies.
Areas should be identified for development of colonies and only non-agricultural land should be used for construction of apartments and flats. Mixed use of land should be promoted through appropriate change in rules. Stamp duty and land conversion charges across all States must be rationalised and reduced.
The government should allow private developers to use the huge vacant land available with government agencies under public-private partnership (PPP). Anti-encroachment laws should be strictly enforced. The State Governments should also focus on redevelopment of old colonies in urban centres and unlocking of the land banks. A reasonable profit margin should be allowed to developers. Developers should be allowed to undertake projects in the vicinity of urban areas with no land conversion charges and all sanctions in 60 days. Hoarding of land for speculative rather than development purposes should be discouraged.
Secondly, there should be better coordination between the different government agencies and there should be a time bound schedule for grant of all clearances.
The authorities should prepare a checklist which should spell out clearly the mandatory conditions to be fulfilled. The policy and procedures should be transparent and there should not be any discretionary powers. A self-certification procedure can also be thought of with the verification of the fulfilment of the critical conditions at the time of the grant of completion / occupancy certificate. The whole approach of the government requires a change in the mindset and a complete shift from the existing case-to-case approval regime.
Everyone is concerned about environment and the way forward is sustainable development but there should be a time bound schedule for grant of all environmental clearances.
In the case of government auctioning land for residential purpose, all approvals and clearances, including the environment ones, should come bundled with the auctioned parcel so that the developer can start the project immediately.
Thirdly, better regulatory / legal framework is required. Various archaic and intrusive laws and regulations faced by the housing and real estate sector need to be reviewed and simplified for better enforcement. Regulations which are not technically feasible or practical should be scrapped
The objective of universal affordable housing can be achieved using less than 5% of the landmass. Urban development reforms and removing archaic restrictions of prescribed Population Density and Floor Area Ratio (FAR) / Floor Space Index (FSI), zoning norms, promotion of mixed use, etc. is urgently required.
The restrictive FAR / FSI regime that successive governments have followed has not allowed high rise buildings to come up in urban centres. Rationalisation / increase in the prescribed density and FAR / FSI norms on scientific basis is required for construction of optimum housing units. Rather than case-by-case approval, higher FAR should be allowed in an area after payment of the requisite levy. A vertical expansion is key to affordable and environment friendly housing.
Efforts should be made to decentralise urban facilities by promotion of integrated satellite townships. Cities with a constraint on the supply of land can only compensate by increasing FSI, both for commercial and residential buildings.
There is an adequate existing land bank in the private sector. The government can tap this land bank by making EWS / LIG housing free of FAR with a cap of 20-30%.
There is urgent need for an independent real estate development regulatory authority in every State to take care of the interests of both the developers as well as the consumers and ensure the enforcement of their respective rights and obligations. Even government agencies should also be brought under the ambit of the regulatory authority and responsibility of the plan approval authorities should be clearly laid down. Care should be taken that the regulatory authority does not become an additional licensing authority. Like in other sectors, an ombudsman can be appointed for the housing and urban development sector for early resolution of disputes.
Fourthly, there is need to ensure provision of social infrastructure and civic facilities. In order to accelerate growth in the housing sector, the State Governments also need to ensure that external development works like roads and transport systems, water supply, sewerage and drainage systems, electricity supply transformers, sub-stations, etc., including social infrastructure, are available to developers and end-users. Provision of civic facilities in urban areas can also be significant business opportunities for private operators.
Developers should be asked to ensure basic amenities such as roads, footpaths, water supply and sewerage and street lights in the upcoming colonies and flats. Provision should also be made for rain-water harvesting as per the town and country planning guidelines. Developers should also ensure that the plantation work is carried in and around the construction site for ensuring ecological balance.
Fifthly, there is need to ensure availability of data. Lack of authentic data on urban infrastructure acts as one of the main problems for private developers planning to set up urban infrastructure projects. Data available with government agencies should be made available to the developers in a transparent manner so that they can have a clear picture of the sector. There is need to have separate Housing Start-up Index (HSUI) for all urban areas, which will indicate the demand and supply situation as reflected in conversion of building permits into actual starts, in all States.
Sixthly, a clear definition of affordable housing is required. Provision of affordable housing to all is a complex issue, with challenges emerging from various facets of the urban sector. There is no common definition of affordable housing in India and it can differ based on the area and the income strata to which an individual belongs. Due to the lack of standardised definition, assigning responsibilities to the concerned stakeholders in provision of affordable housing or creating an environment to make housing affordable is difficult.
Seventhly, the government needs to incentivize cost effective / green technology. Respective Municipal Corporations and Local Bodies should promote cost effective technologies for affordable housing by providing appropriate support and incentives. To mitigate the environmental concerns, green and energy-efficient infrastructure and buildings, using renewable energy sources and undertaking conservation / recycling of water, should be provided fiscal incentives by the government.
Eightly, the government can explore the transport hub model for mass housing. Extending reach of public transport system like metro rail to city limits can help create an inexpensive land stock around the route of such a mode of transport. The government should opt for a low ground coverage-high FSI structures on such lands.
The real estate industry, with its forward and backward linkages with a large number of sectors in the economy, contributes significantly to the country’s economic growth. The housing sector, along with the supporting services, is a priority sector in the economic development of the country and at the policy level, it should be accorded infrastructure status by the government. Recognition of and increasing the mandate for the role of private developers in creation of housing stock in all categories, including EWS / LIG, is essential. Unless the developers are allowed to make some profits, the goal of providing quality affordable housing to all will remain a dream.