Daily News Mail

Modi reviews preperations for 'Housing for all' scheme

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on January 21 chaired a review meeting on the goal of "Housing for All" by 2022. The meeting was to finalise the contours of the Housing for All Mission, which is one of the priority commitments of the government.

The programme was mentioned in the President's address to Parliament in June 2014 where he said, "By the time the nation completes 75 years of its Independence, every family will have a pucca house with water connection, toilet facilities, 24x7 electricity supply and access." 

The same commitment was made in the Budget for 2014-15 where the Finance Minister had announced a Housing for All programme. The Finance Minister had said, "Our government is committed to endeavour to have housing for all by 2022. For this purpose, I intend to extend additional tax incentive on home loans to encourage people, especially the young, to own houses. I propose setting up a Mission on Low Cost Affordable Housing which will be anchored in the National Housing Bank. Schemes will be evolved to incentivize the development of low cost affordable housing." 

The programme proposes to build 2 crore houses across the nation by 2022. This would cover both slum housing and affordable housing for weaker sections. It will cover urban poor living in slums, urban homeless and new migrants to urban areas in search of shelter. It would cover metros, small towns and all urban areas.

National Housing Bank

National Housing Bank (NHB), a wholly owned subsidiary of Reserve Bank of India (RBI), was set up by an Act of Parliament in 1987. NHB is an apex financial institution for housing. It commenced its operations in 9th July 1988. NHB has been established with an objective to operate as a principal agency to promote housing finance institutions both at local and regional levels and to provide financial and other support incidental to such institutions and for matters connected therewith

NHB registers, regulates and supervises Housing Finance Company (HFCs), keeps surveillance through On-site & Off-site Mechanisms and co-ordinates with other Regulators.