The Hindu 30.05.2015
Boost for affordable housing
National Housing Bank’s special urban housing refinance scheme
extends a helping hand to low-income urban households, writes K.A.
Martin
The National Housing Bank (NHB) has come out with a
special housing refinance scheme for low-income households in urban
areas leveraging a $100-million loan from the International Development
Agency (IDA).
An NHB document on the new scheme said
that refinance would be provided to primary lending institutions on the
basis of their loans to low-income urban households for building,
purchasing, or renovation of houses. These loans must be secured through
collateral property or in another way.
Urban
households with an annual income not exceeding Rs.2 lakh are eligible
for benefits under the new scheme. The loan amount should not exceed
Rs.5 lakh. It is also a must that the beneficiaries have income from the
informal sector. The loans should have been disbursed either on or
after February 25, 2013. The loan-to-value ratio must not exceed 80 per
cent.
The NHB has also said that the benefits under
the new scheme should be extended only to projects that conform to the
prescribed social and environmental due diligence requirements.
Introducing
the new scheme, the NHB document said that the housing finance market
in the country had developed at a robust rate over the last 25 years.
There are numerous large, small, and medium-sized housing finance
companies spread across the country. Besides, commercial banks, regional
rural banks, and urban cooperative banks too provide loans for housing
purpose, making the market vibrant.
However, the NHB
document noted that most of the growth in the housing finance sector
took place in the upper- and middle-income groups. Low-income groups
still have little access to housing finance from the formal sector.
The
situation has led to shortage of houses in the low-income group. A
study by a technical committee appointed by the government on housing
requirements in the country said that there was a shortage of 17.84
million houses in the country (2012) in the urban areas among the
low-income or economically weaker groups.
Taking the situation into consideration, the government is working to achieve housing for all by 2022.
The
NHB states that the benefits under the new scheme should be extended
only to projects that conform to the prescribed social and environmental
due diligence requirements
