To address these issues, the Central Government launched the Affordable Rental Housing Complex (ARHCS) scheme in 2020.
Approved by the Union Cabinet on 8 July 2020, under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana -Urban (PMAY -U), the scheme aims to provide affordable accommodation to urban migrants and economically underprivileged.
The scheme targets workers in areas such as manufacturing, hospitality, healthcare, domestic services and constructions, as well as laborers and students who migrate from rural areas or small cities, who get better opportunities in cities.
This scheme is applied through two models:
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Model -1: Using empty houses funded by the current government, built under Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) and Rajiv Awas Yojana (RAY), to convert them to ARHC through public private participation (PPP) or public agencies
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Model -2: Construction, operation and maintenance of ARHC by public/private institutions on its own available vacant land.
On 31 December 2020, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs issued a circular to all states, in which they were directed to convert vacant and under-construction houses under various central government schemes into cheap rental housing complexes (ARHCs). The circular highlighted the following points:
About 1.19 lakh houses built under JNNURM and Ray’s BSUP and IHSDP schemes remain vacant in 324 cities, while about 0.90 lakh houses are still under construction. These houses can be used as rental housing for urban migrants and EWS/LIG category under the ARHC scheme.
As ARHC PMAY-U is a sub-scheme, all empty and under-construction houses under JNNurm and Ray, which are effective with the approval of the union cabinet, are considered Arhcs and will be specially allocated to the ARHC beneficiaries.
States/UT are urged to convert full and incomplete JNNurm and rays into Arhc to maximize profit for urban migrants and poor.
