As the spread of Covid-19 and the ensuing nation-wide lockdown brought economic activities to a halt earlier this year, India saw the lives...
As the spread of Covid-19 and the ensuing nation-wide lockdown brought economic activities to a halt earlier this year, India saw the lives of millions of migrant workers unravel. Job losses, mounting debts and the lack of secure living arrangements led to reverse migration of this hitherto invisible workforce from cities to their home states.
Indeed, migrants face a unique inability to access government-led social schemes (like subsidised housing) in their cities of work as their identity and domicile documents are often tagged to their native addresses. They may avail such benefits there but rely entirely on renting affordable homes in the cities, obtained through informal markets, often in sub-standard living conditions.
Informal rental markets
The Central government has historically promoted ownership models in affordable housing for the poor. Recently, spurred on by the pandemic, it introduced the Affordable Rental Housing Complexes as a sub-scheme under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-Urban.
This cabinet-approved scheme is targeted at “migrant workers/urban poor” who live in slums, informal or unauthorised colonies, or peri-urban areas to avail formal, affordable, rental housing. Affordable Rental Housing Complexes aims to initially utilise existing government-funded vacant housing through public-private partnerships and subsequently incentivise the construction of such complexes on private lands.
While this is a welcome move, informal rental markets have been thriving...
