Odisha to roll out affordable rental housing for urban poor under PMAY-U 2.0

The Odisha government has initiated steps to provide affordable rental housing to the urban poor under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana–Urban (PMAY-U) 2.0, to ease the growing pressure of high rental costs in urban areas.

As part of the initiative, unused and underutilised residential buildings owned by the Central and State governments will be identified and converted into affordable rental housing complexes. The housing units will primarily cater to migrant urban poor, industrial and commercial workers, informal sector employees, and working women.

In this connection, Additional Chief Secretary of the Housing and Urban Development Department, Usha Padhee, has written to multiple departments—including Home, Agriculture, Energy, Finance, Food Supplies, Women and Child Development, Panchayati Raj, Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe Development, Health, and Cooperation—seeking details of vacant government-owned housing assets located in urban areas across the State.

According to the operational guidelines of PMAY-U 2.0, Affordable Rental Housing (ARH) will be implemented through two models. Under Model-1, existing vacant government-funded residential buildings will be converted into rental housing either through Public-Private Partnership (PPP) mode or by public agencies. Under Model-2, private or public entities will construct, operate, and maintain rental housing projects for Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) and Low-Income Groups (LIG), with investments recovered through rental income over an extended period.

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The rent for these housing units will be fixed by local authorities based on local surveys and revised periodically. The initiative is expected to boost urban economic activity, improve workforce productivity, and help curb the growth of informal settlements in cities.