The Affordable Rental Housing Complex (ARHC) scheme, launched over four-and-a-half years ago to provide housing for migrant workers during the Covid-19 pandemic, has significantly underperformed. As of now, only 5,648 government-funded vacant houses have been allotted to migrant workers, representing less than 7% of the initial target of 83,534 homes identified for the scheme.
In a Rajya Sabha session on Monday, junior housing and urban affairs minister Tokhan Sahu revealed that only five states and union territories—Gujarat, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, Jammu & Kashmir, and Chandigarh—have converted their vacant government-funded homes into ARHC units. However, not all of the identified homes in these regions have been converted for migrant workers. Maharashtra holds the highest number of unconverted houses, with 32,345 flats lying vacant, followed by Delhi with 29,112 flats and Uttar Pradesh with 5,232 flats. Despite the high number of available houses in these states, none have yet converted the vacant units for migrant housing, with only Chandigarh and J&K fully utilizing their vacant government properties for the ARHC scheme.
Launched as a sub-scheme under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) in July 2020, the ARHC scheme was designed to provide dignified living for urban migrants and poor workers near their workplaces. The scheme consists of two models:
- Converting vacant government-funded houses into ARHCs through Public-Private Partnerships (PPP) or by public agencies.
- Building and operating new ARHCs by public or private entities on available vacant land.
According to the ministry, a total of 82,273 ARHC units have been sanctioned, of which 35,425 have been completed—all of them in Tamil Nadu. This leaves a large gap between the sanctioned, completed, and allotted housing units across the country. The scheme’s sluggish pace has raised concerns about its ability to address the housing shortage faced by migrant workers in urban areas. Despite the allocated funds and identified houses, the implementation delays and lack of coordination across states and local authorities have hindered the scheme’s success in providing adequate accommodation for workers.
