Mumbai activists say, 'Housing policy 2024 is a pre-election ploy'

The proposed new Housing Policy will replace the last policy introduced in 2007. REPRESENTATION PIC

With less than 24 hours left for the public to submit feedback on the proposed Housing Policy 2024, housing activists and the state housing federation have raised concerns about the draft. They argue that it lacks a clear vision and effective, real-time solutions for key issues like affordable housing, slum rehabilitation, rental housing, and construction finance. They describe it as a pre-election strategy aimed at attracting voters rather than addressing real needs. Initially, the submission deadline was October 3, but it was extended to October 31 following requests from stakeholders and the federation.

The Maharashtra Government's Housing Department is crafting a new Housing Policy for 2024, replacing the last policy introduced in 2007. Since then, the real estate sector has seen major changes, including the Development Control and Promotion Regulations (DCPR)-2034 for Mumbai and the Unified Development Control and Promotion Regulations (UDCPR)-2020 for the state. These regulations have significantly influenced real estate across Maharashtra.

To address the challenge of "Housing for All" and achieve the goal of a "Slum-Free Maharashtra," the new Housing Policy claims to focus on the Economically Weaker Section (EWS), Low Income Group (LIG), and Middle-Income Group (MIG) segments of the population.

Chartered Accountant Ramesh Prabhu, also founder Chairman of Maharashtra Societies Welfare Association (MahaSEWA) said, "The proposed draft housing policy, seems to be an attempt made by the ruling state government to lure the voters ahead of the election. However, the policy drafting seems to have been done in haste, as it lacks vision and real-time solution to execute the same."

"Ideally the policy should have a futuristic vision and plans to accomplish them, by highlighting clear short- and long-term goals, but the same is missing. The draft is also silent on the intent of the state housing ministry, as to what exactly it is proposing when it mentions ‘Housing for all', and ‘Slum-free Maharashtra'. Moreover, the policy does not have any statistical data or execution plan to walk the talk, while handling major housing issues viz - Affordable housing, slum rehabilitation, rental housing, construction finance, and so on."

Affordable housing

Prabhu said, "The policy is silent on crucial points as to how the state government intends to make affordable housing a reality, especially when the market prices are skyrocketing. Moreover, the policy has not even defined what it means by ‘affordable' and if affordability is in terms of the location of such projects, or size of the houses or the price at which these houses will be available, and to which segment of the masses (EWS or LIG, etc)"

Slum rehabilitation

"The policy is silent on the much-required transparency process, especially when people tend to go to courts for even the smallest of disputes, and redevelopment projects get stuck for years. Moreover, they (the housing ministry) are silent on curbing the slums, which have been gradually increasing in Mumbai, Thane, Pune, Nagpur, etc. Unless new slums are not stopped, the redevelopment of slums will never become a reality. We (MahaSEWA) had even mooted the idea to the government of the formation of cooperative housing societies of slum pockets so that new slums do not come up, but in vain," Prabhu said.

Rental housing

Prabhu said, "The draft policy does not address how the government plans to implement rental housing, especially as its relevance fades. Previously, MMRDA allowed a Floor Space Index (FSI) of 4 for residential buildings: developers used an FSI of 3 for their projects and set aside an FSI of 1 for rental housing to be handed to MMRDA. The public still lacks information on the status, allocation, and recipients of these rental houses."

RERA

Prabhu said, "The draft policy is completely silent on the status of the over 8,000 to 10,000 stalled projects in the state of Maharashtra and instead mentions settling 16,979 cases out of 24,789 complaints received. It is unfortunate that many flat buyers are still suffering, as no concrete decision has been taken by MahaRERA on the stalled projects and actual public money is stuck.

The above issues are the mere tip of the iceberg, but overall, if you ask me, "The draft housing policy cannot be accepted in its present form, and the new government will have to take along all the stakeholders, and common public representatives to re-draft the entire housing policy, as the policy need to have both short term and long terms objectives, vision and real-time quantifiable goal plans," said Prabhu.

Expert view

The State Housing Federation echoed similar concerns, Advocate Shreeprasad Parab, Expert Director, said, "We expect Maharashtra's housing laws to be uniform and simplified, with minimal state interference. Slum rehabilitation should not be political; the housing ministry must create a comprehensive policy and enforce strict measures to prevent further slum growth. The state should identify government land and allocate it to contractors registered under Section 8 of the Companies Act, focused on providing affordable housing at construction cost. Approvals for such projects should follow a single-window system, taking no more than 30 minutes. Additionally, rental housing should be mandatory in all projects, with reserved flats for specific categories and incentives offered at affordable rates."