According to Task Force on Promoting Affordable Housing, affordable housing should be defined by taking into consideration size of dwelling unit based on carpet area, income ceiling of the household and house price to income multiple. The task force has recommended a dwelling unit size of 21 to 27 sq mt of carpet area for Economic Weaker Section (EWS) and 28-60 sq mt carpet area for Lower Income Group (LIG) category.

The maximum household income for both the categories – EWS and LIG – has been pegged at Rs 8,000 and Rs 16,000 per month respectively. The task force recommends that house price, viz-a-viz income, should be four times the annual household income and could be five times of the same, in case financial incentives are provided.

This means if a person’s income is Rs 5 lakh per annum, a house of upto Rs 20 lakh could be affordable for him. If government incentives are available, this affordability could go up to Rs 25 lakh. According to the task force report, the sale price of the EWS/LIG segment houses should be around Rs 1,400 per sq feet, while the overall average of the sale price of the project for Middle Income Group (MIG) and Higher Income Group (HIG) segments should be Rs 1,600 per sq ft.

According to ‘Affordable Housing in India’, a report by real-estate consultant, Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL), Ahmedabad in Gujarat has about 80 affordable housing schemes. These schemes are in Vatva, New Maninagar, Narol and Kathwada. Some developers who have come up with affordable housing schemes in the city include Dharmadev Infrastructure, Santosh Associates, Rajyash Group, Galaxy Developers, DBS Affordable Housing, Shree Ram Developers, Svasaar Value Builders and Sun Builders, to name a few.

Interestingly, the western part of the city is bereft on any affordable housing schemes for LIG segment. Major townships like Tata-Arvind, Godrej Properties and Applewood have started offering 1BHK units of about 600 sq ft with a starting price of Rs 16 lakh. The final cost of the unit is thus expected to cross Rs 18 lakh, clearly an affordability gap of 20% for the LIG buyers. A few of the developers have also come up with affordable housing schemes in developing areas like Ranip.

Builders claim that the sky-rocketing land prices in the city is the main reason why affordable houses have become unaffordable.