Housing For All Scheme

Housing for All Scheme also known as Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY), is an initiative of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation, launched by Pradhan Mantri Narendra Modi in 2015 and aims to provide affordable housing to all the poor. This program integrates with other programs to guarantee that homes have a toilet, an electricity connection, an LPG connection, access to drinking water, Jan Dhan banking services, etc. It consists of two parts: the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Urban) (PMAY-U), which is aimed at the urban poor, and the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Gramin) (PMAY-G), for the underprivileged in rural areas.

Objectives of Housing for All Scheme:

• By the end of March 2022, all poor families who are without a home or who are residing in the kutcha house or other old dwellings would have access to a pucca house with basic facilities.
• To provide support in the form of a full grant in order to assist residents who are Below the Poverty Line (BPL) in building new housing units and upgrading existing, unusable kutcha houses.
• Aims to empower the people, as housing ownership is one of the main indices of socioeconomic development.
• The ownership of the house is granted in the name of a female member or through joint ownership, so ensuring women’s empowerment through the Scheme.

Beneficiaries under the Housing for All Scheme:

• To be a beneficiary under this scheme, one must not own any pucca houses in India in their own name or the names of family members.
• The program’s beneficiaries include individuals who fall into the categories of middle-income groups (6–18 lakhs annual income), lower-income groups (2–6 lakhs), and economically deprived classes (yearly income of below 3 Lakhs).
• When applying for a loan under the PMAY program, the loan applicant should not have received any benefits or subsidies from the central or state governments.
• Individuals must provide a self-certificate or affidavit in order to be identified for the specified categories (EWS, LIGs, and MIGs).
• The beneficiary’s kid or daughter, wife, or spouse may be considered members of the family (unmarried).

Features of the Housing for All Scheme: 

• The goal of PMAY is to offer pucca houses with all essential amenities to the weaker and homeless groups residing in kutcha houses.
• The minimum size of a home is 25 square meters, and it must have a clean bathroom, electricity, kitchen, and tap water.
• By allowing female members to own homes individually or jointly, the Mission supports women’s empowerment.
• Additionally, people with disabilities, the elderly, members of the OBC (Other Backward Classes), minorities, single women, transgender people, and other weaker & more vulnerable groups in society are given preference.
• According to the PMAY program, the financial aid for plain regions is 1.20 lakh, and for hilly regions and North Eastern districts, it is 1.30 lakh.
• The Central and State Governments split the cost of units in the ratio of 60:40 for plain areas and 90:10 for North Eastern and hilly states.
• The interest subsidies have been raised to 6.5 percent under the Housing for All plan. Previously, the percentages for EWS and LIG were 4.98 percent and 3.33 percent, respectively.

Coverage and Phases of the Housing for All Yojana:

Following are the three phases that would be used to cover all 4041 statutory towns as of the Census of 2011, with an emphasis on 500 Class I cities:

1. PMAY Phase 1 will cover 100 cities from April 2015 to March 2017 based on the willingness of the States/UTs to participate.
2. Phase II will include 200 additional cities and span from April 2017 until March 2019.
3. Phase III will cover all remaining cities and will run from April 2019 to March 2022.

The government has chosen 2,508 cities and towns across 26 states as of April 25, 2016, to start building homes for the urban poor. Construction of 1,86,777 more houses for the benefit of urban poor people costing an investment of 11,169 crore rupees and receiving central assistance of 2,797 crore rupees was approved in February 2018, bringing the overall number of houses approved to 39,25,240 of the targeted 1 crore houses by March 2022.

Achievements of the Housing For All Scheme:

• Up to now, 1.14 million houses have been approved compared to the 1.12 million houses that were estimated as overall demand. 
• As of the 12th of December 2021, a total of 91.5 lakh houses were set for construction, and 53 lakh houses had already been finished or delivered.
• The Credit Linked Subsidy Scheme (CLSS) has provided housing loan subsidies to a total of 17.35 lakh beneficiaries, of whom 6.15 lakh came from the Middle Income Group.
• In total, 6,368 homes are being built as part of the Light House Projects, at a cost of $790.57 crore.

Frequently Asked Questions Related to Housing for All Scheme:

1Q. What is the Housing For All Scheme?

Ans. Housing for All Scheme also known as Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY), is an initiative of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation, launched by Pradhan Mantri Narendra Modi in 2015 and aims to provide affordable housing to all the poor.

2Q. How much financial aid is provided under Housing For All Scheme?

Ans. Under the Housing For All Scheme, the financial aid for plain regions is 1.20 lakh, and for hilly regions and North Eastern districts, it is 1.30 lakh.

3Q. Who has the ownership of a house under the Housing For All Scheme?

Ans. Female members of a family have the ownership right of the houses under the Housing For All Scheme, to promote women’s empowerment.

4Q. What are the different components of Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY)?

Ans. It consists of two parts: the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Urban) (PMAY-U), which is aimed at the urban poor, and the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Gramin) (PMAY-G), for the underprivileged in rural areas.

5Q. What is the ratio of the split of cost between Centre and state under the Housing For All Scheme?

Ans. The Central and State Governments split the cost of units in the ratio of 60:40 for plain areas and 90:10 for North Eastern and hilly states.