Unsold Public Housing Must Be Repurposed

Paradoxically, India's government housing projects struggle with a significant deficit among the economically weaker sections, whose needs remain largely unmet despite a substantial amount being spent on multiple housing projects promoted by state or central Governments.

- S K NAG

Paradoxically, India's government housing projects struggle with a significant deficit among the economically weaker sections, whose needs remain largely unmet despite a substantial amount being spent on multiple housing projects promoted by state or central governments. This results in idle assets due to a poor pricing strategy and an inappropriate choice of locations, widening the gap between demand and supply without understanding the ground-level needs.

It symbolises a mismatch between human needs and the administrative understanding of the ground reality due to a limited reach. This entails a profound strategic realignment of thought to position the inventory in the ecosystem to benefit the intended users rather than arbitrarily wasting public money.

A survey conducted by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs found that approximately 10 million units are unsold in urban areas alone, and this figure increases to 19 million when rural areas are also taken into account. Knight Frank (a reputed real estate consulting firm) highlighted in their report of 2024 that the unsold housing inventories are 4.68 lacs units in the top eight cities of India, and Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) accounts for 47000+ units. Undoubtedly, this deficit affects the lower-income group segment most, followed by the middle-income group home seekers.

National trends are truly reflected in Maharashtra housing data, indicating a strong disconnect between planning and economic reality on the ground. The planned housing by March 2024 was 19.40 lakh, and the achieved number was 30 per cent less. This shortfall poses challenges for urban poor, middle-income, and lower-income groups, and paradoxically, inventories are accumulating in cities or nodes like Nagpur, Thane, and Palghar.