Mr Atul Save, Housing Minister of Maharashtra, announced on August 19, 2023, that the State Government is aiming to bring a new policy in November 2023. The discussions are in place with structural engineers, architects and other stakeholders in the realty sector to shape the policy in a way that the homebuyers can easily get clearances as required. Read the article to know the key highlights of the policy.
Maharashtra Housing Policy: Planned in November 2023
The Maharashtra government is drafting a new housing policy that will emphasise sustainable and affordable accommodation. The new policy is likely to come in the next two months by November. Some key areas likely to be covered under the policy include the construction of special townships, modification of the Rent Control Act, removal of restrictions in the redevelopment of slums and incorporating improvements in the redevelopment policy.
Mr Ramesh Prabhu, the chairman of the Maharashtra Society Welfare Association, has said that the State government drafted the previous housing policy in 2015. After the initial policy, various developments have taken place, such as Development Control and Promotion Regulation 2034 (DPCR), which is applicable to Greater Mumbai. Also, a unified DPCR is applicable to the entire state, excluding Mumbai. He also stated that the policy has to incorporate development in these places within this rule.
An official related to the housing development has indicated that the new policy is an enhanced version of the Housing For All scheme by the Centre.
Maharashtra Housing Policy: Announced in 2016
In 2016, Maharashtra government announced a housing policy to extend the redevelopment scheme to suburbs and transit camps. The transit camps are areas where the residents are temporarily shifted during the upgrade and redevelopment process. 104 layouts under the scheme to witness redevelopment with a Floor Space Index, also called Floor Area Ratio, of four. The developers doing redevelopment of buildings on plot sizes up to 2,000 sq m to get an FSI of three, whereas the FSI can be increased by one by payment of a premium and sharing the housing stock with MHADA.
The policy is aimed at redeveloping a minimum of 30,000 houses under Maharashtra Housing & Area Development Authority (MHADA). Among these, 10,000 units will be in the suburbs. As per the policy, the residents in the redeveloped buildings are to get units between 300 sq ft and 753 sq ft.
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