Indian Govt may pay rent for urban poor in 100 cities; issue vouchers

The Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led Indian Government is planning to help the urban poor pay the house rent. It is going to roll out a scheme in which the Centre will give rent vouchers to the urban poor.

The Rs 2,700-crore welfare scheme will be launched across 100 smart cities for below poverty line (BPL) families.

Under the scheme, which is likely to cost Rs 2,713 crore every year to implement in smart cities, the tenant would give these vouchers to the landowner, who in turn would be able to redeem them at any citizen service bureau. If the rent is higher than the value of rent voucher, the tenant would pay the difference in cash to the landowner.

According to Census 2011, about 27.5% of urban residents lived in rented houses in 2011.

A senior official of housing and urban poverty alleviation ministry told ET, "The rental voucher scheme is being looked at as a means to complement the Prime Minister Housing for All scheme.”

"The recent implementation of the Benami Properties Act and rules open up another option for rental housing. An enabling provision would be inserted in the rules that houses confiscated by Central government which cannot be auctioned, could be let out by the Central government or through state governments as rental housing for the middle income group (MIG), LIG and economically weaker section (EWS) depending on the suitability and location of such properties,” the official told ET.