Apartments: In a country where a construction boom has created a large number of houses, many have no one to live in them and yet a larger number of people remains without a proper house. A government study has highlighted this contrast and called for measures to bridge the gap. Till March, the shortage of housing units in urban areas was 18.7 million while over 11 million houses lay vacant, according to a technical group constituted by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation (HUPA). If 80 per cent of these vacant houses are made available in the market during 2012-17, it has pointed out, the need to build additional houses will come down by over 88 lakh units. The report has observed, however, that it will be a challenging task to eliminate the shortage during the 12th Plan period over and above maintaining the current rate of construction, even with the full cooperation of the private sector and the builders’ lobby. The total requirement includes the number of households without a home and those living in very old, “non-serviceable” or cramped houses. The number of vacant houses has been quoted from Census-2011 — 11.09 million in urban areas, besides 0.73 million occupied but found locked. The group, headed by JNU professor Amitabh Kundu, submitted its report last week to Minister for HUPA Kumari Selja. “A large number of houses are lying vacant for want of tenants or due to constraints in the housing market, such as lack of affordability to buy such houses. Some of these vacant houses have been purchased for investment only and are therefore not occupied,” it says. At another point, it says, “The policies and programmes for dealing with the housing shortage... cannot focus on promoting construction of new units and facilitating the households already residing in decent units to acquire new houses...” The group, whose members include many bureaucrats including registrar general C Chandramauli, recommends that “housing be made a part of the infrastructure sector or declared an industry, so that it is possible to incentivise the construction activities to deliver an approximate mix of dwelling units...” It says the shortage “should be considered a matter of serious concern in the context of the housing and urban development strategy, both at national and state levels”. About people living in cramped houses, it cites the example of a number of married couple in urban areas who do not have separate rooms to live in. The report says they can get their problems addressed through major repair work, addition of an extra room or partitioning of an existing one. It cites the stipulation of the National Housing Policy that all households must have a minimum of 300 square feet as total built-up area. “For country growing at about 8 per cent per year over the past eight years with some fluctuations, and being counted as a global economic power, the vision certainly seems achievable within the next five to seven years.” The survey provides a state-wise breakup for the housing shortage, besides dividing those who need a home according to their economic status. States that suffer a high housing shortage include Maharashtra that is 19.4 lakh houses short (10.31 per cent of its total requirement) and UP with 30.7 lakh (16.34 per cent). Andhra Pradesh is 12.7 lakh units short (6.78 per cent), Gujarat 9.9 lakh (5.26 per cent), Karnataka 10.2 (5.43 per cent), Madhya Pradesh 11 lakh (5.86 per cent) and West Bengal 13.3 lakh (7.08 per cent).