Affordable Rental Housing Complexes Scheme under Atmanirbhar B | UPSC Current Affairs Daily

Affordable Rental Housing Complexes Scheme under Atmanirbhar Bharat Package

It will be a sub-scheme of the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana- Urban that is implemented by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs.
The creation of Affordable Rental Housing Complexes (ARHCs) is as a part of the government’s economic package to address the Covid-19 crisis.
The scheme is in line with the vision of AtmaNirbhar Bharat.
Target Beneficiaries: Workers who come from rural areas or towns to work in manufacturing, hospitality, health, construction, etc.

Features:
Affordable Rental Housing: About 1.03 lakh completed government-funded houses across cities that are yet to be allotted to beneficiaries (Urban poor) under existing schemes would be converted into the rental housing complexes.
Concession Agreements: The conversion will be done through concession agreements for 25 years.
The States and Union Territories would invite bids to select concessionaires.
Concessionaires will make the complexes livable by repair/retrofit and maintenance of rooms and filling up infrastructure gaps like water, sewer/ septage, sanitation, road etc.
Complexes will revert to Urban Local Bodies (ULB) after 25 years to run on their own.
Special Incentives to Entities: Special incentives like concessional loan at priority sector lending rate, etc. will be offered to private/ public entities to develop ARHCs on their own available vacant land for 25 years.
Technology Innovation Grant: Under it an expenditure of Rs. 600 crore would be provided for projects using identified innovative technologies for construction

Initial affordable rent of ARHCs will be fixed by the local authority based on a local survey prior to the issuance of Request for Proposal (RFP) by Urban Local Bodies (ULBs).
Subsequently, rent will be enhanced biennially by 8%, subject to maximum increase of 20% in aggregate, over a period of 5 years, effective from the date of signing the contract.
The same mechanism shall be followed over the entire concession period i.e. 25 years.


SOURCE: PIB