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Housing for All by 2022
The Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, a central government scheme of subsidies for low-income housing, is singularly unimaginative and poorly thought-through. It is unlikely to deliver worthwhile results. The promised funds could be far more effectively deployed if used differently. This article examines the scheme's deficiencies and suggests options that should be explored. It also considers the Model Tenancy Act of April 2015 and the National Urban Rental Housing Policy (Draft) released in October 2015. The article argues that these policy statements are unlikely to lead anywhere, at least in regard to increasing the supply of rental housing to low-income groups.
The author is indebted to Sahil Gandhi for comments that improved the article.
“Housing for All by 2022” was the earlier name of a scheme launched in June 2015 as the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) by the central government (MoHUPA 2015b).
It is an anonymous document. It would be nice to know which experts’ thinking went into it. There is nothing new or innovative about any of it. There is not even an assessment of past policies, of what has worked and what has not, or what past experience might teach us about what to do in future. Instead, the sum and substance of its proposals seem to spring from the belief that if you throw enough money at the problem it will go away, irrespective of the manner in which you do it.
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