Cabinet approves creation of National Urban Housing Fund

NEW DELHI: The Union Cabinet approved the creation of National Urban Housing Fund (NUHF) for Rs.60,000 crores. The aim is to cater to the demand of housing shortage of nearly 1.2 crore and make available housing to all by 2022, till 75th Anniversary of Independence.

This fund will be situated in Building Materials and Technology Promotion Council (BMTPC), an autonomous body registered under the Societies Registration Act, 1860 under the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs.

39.4 lakh houses have been sanctioned by the Ministry, under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Urban). There is a very good response from the States / UTs and nearly 2 – 3 lakh houses are being sanctioned every month. More than 17 lakh houses have been grounded and about 5 lakh houses have been completed.

Finance minister Arun Jaitley had proposed the creation of such a fund in his budget speech and said that 3.7 million homes would be built in urban areas in 2018-19 and 5.1 million in rural areas.

Under Credit Linked Subsidy Scheme (CLSS), wherein housing for EWS / LIG / MIG beneficiaries is being sanctioned by the Banks / HFCs to the eligible beneficiaries under the PMAY(Urban), the responses have grown significantly.

In last 8 months, nearly 87,000 Housing Loans have been sanctioned under the Scheme and over 40,000 applications are under consideration for approval.