Government is expected to announce its latest Affordable Rental Housing Complex (ARHC).

Soon, students in Gujarat and those coming from other states will be likely to take advantage of rental homes at a much cheaper price than the market price. The Gujarat Government is expected to announce its latest Affordable Rental Housing Complex (ARHC) scheme within a week or two.

Under the ARHC program, the organization is expected to using vacant houses of the Gujarat housing board and other arrangements through private entities, under the Public-Private Partnership model (PPP).

Vacant houses would be granted to the developer or property management company on a fixed rental basis in which firms will rent them to the Lower Income Group (LIG), the Economically Weaker Section (EWS), students and others.

Similarly, the government also has a different model, in which the developer may develop his project and build housing as specified. In this scenario, the developer will also get 50% more FSI free (Floor Space Index) with no charge. Thus, helping in reducing the overall cost of the construction.

The developer would, however, have to seek regulatory permission for rental to be cheaper than the existing market cost.

Lochan Sehra, Urban Development and Urban Housing Secretary, remarked: “The central government has formulated the ARHC scheme and the state government is looking forward to replicate it in Gujarat.”

In the opinion of real estate analysts, if the government had approved heavy subsidies for development in this category, the scheme would have been worked stronger.