The Union Cabinet approved on Wednesday the launch of the “Housing for All by 2022” programme for the rehabilitation of slum-dwellers and promotion of affordable housing for the urban poor. The target is to provide nearly 20 million houses over seven years. The programme is a key promise in the Bharatiya Janata Party’s manifesto for the Lok Sabha election in 2014 — a “pucca” house for every family by the 75th year of Independence. An official statement said a Central grant of an average Rs. 1 lakh would be available for a house under the slum rehabilitation programme. But the State governments could exercise flexibility in using the grant for any slum rehabilitation project using land as a resource for providing houses to slum-dwellers. “Under the credit-linked interest subsidy component, an interest subsidy of 6.5 per cent on housing loans availed up to a tenure of 15 years will be provided to EWS/LIG categories” it said.