To provide shelter to homeless in Kerala, the Housing and Urban Development Corporation (HUDCO) has recently sanctioned the fourth installment of Rs 375 crore for phase-3 of the project. The project which was launched by the government in 2018, aims to provide residential units to homeless people in the state.
According to a senior official, apart from the above-sanctioned money, the corporation has committed to providing a loan worth Rs 4,000 crore for the project. This installment will be utilized to pay money to those beneficiaries who are currently building their project under the phase-2 of the mission.
Out of the 4000 crores, HUDCO has already released Rs 1,500 crore for the project. Under this mission, 1.84 lakh houses will be developed by the beneficiaries for whom the money will be paid by the corporation. HUDCO first track the development of the house and after that offers financial assistance to the beneficiaries.
A Local Self Government official said, “Under the phase-2 of the project, the government has so far sanctioned Rs 3,041 crore of which Rs 716 crore has been allotted by local bodies and Rs 425 crore allotted by the state government.”
He further informed that in the third phase of the mission, construction of 217 houses has been complete in Idukki. Apart from this, a 7-storey apartment complex with 217 flats was constructed at Machiplavu in Adimali. Each of these apartments is measuring 460 sq ft and has two bedrooms, a hall, and kitchen.
The life mission housing project has been initiated under the Nava Keralam mission and will be developed under three phases. In the first phase, around 50,000 were completed which in total provide benefits to 54,446 families.