Kerala - Kochi   

NHB to the rescue of the poor

Kochi: The recent move by the National Housing Bank to foray into the housing micro-financing programme has helped the middle class to tide over some of the problems on the housing front, the bank has said.

Under the programme, NHB has recognised the penetration of community-based financial institutions as delivery mechanisms for channelising housing finance to the un-served and underserved at the local and decentralised levels in the rural areas. The bank's housing micro-finance programme is based on integrated habitat and partnership approach with customised product intervention, aimed at supplementing various government initiatives.

Under its HMF programme, the NHB has sanctioned assistance worth over Rs 92 crore to 28 agencies last year. These projects will benefit construction and renovation of about 25,000 dwelling units covering 10 States in the country.

The HMF programme is targeted at the affordable housing sector and the beneficiaries are people in the income level of Rs.5,000 to Rs.7,000 per month. “One out of every five persons in the world is an Indian while India has got only 2.5 per cent of the available land. The per capita income of an Indian is about Rs.47,000. These figures point out the critical position of housing”, says a top official of a real estate group based in Kochi, who has executed several projects in the city and elsewhere.

There is tremendous potential for construction of houses for the middle class in any part of the country. The government has to permit higher floor area ratio so that more space would be available for the construction within the allotted space. It would also be necessary to find out land which costs less.

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