Guwahati, Sept. 24: The northeastern states are facing a shortage of 0.68 million urban dwelling units, with Assam still topping the list despite recording a decrease since 2007. This was stated in the Union ministry of housing and poverty alleviation’s latest report on urban housing shortage for the Twelfth Plan period (2012-17) that was unveiled by minister of housing and urban poverty alleviation Kumari Selja in New Delhi on Saturday. Following the release of the latest figures, it has come to light that the urban housing shortage in the Northeast has increased from 0.55 million units in 2007 to 0.68 million units in 2012. According to the report, the highest urban housing shortage exists in Assam, followed by Nagaland and Manipur. Giving a state-wise break-up, the report said Assam had an urban housing shortage of 0.28 million units, Nagaland 0.21 million units, Manipur 0.08 million units, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya and Tripura 0.03 million units each and Mizoram 0.02 million units. These figures, however, do not mean that 0.68 million people do not have roofs over their heads. They simply imply that these households suffer from serious deprivation in terms of housing conditions. The report was prepared by a technical committee, set up by the government to estimate the urban housing shortage in the country for the Twelfth Plan period, under the chairmanship of Jawaharlal Nehru University professor of economics Amitabh Kundu. The other members were National Building Organisation director D.S. Negi, who is also an officer on special duty with the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) and Rajiv Awas Yojana (RAY), secretary to the ministry of housing and poverty alleviation Susheel Kumar, ministry of housing and poverty alleviation additional secretary P.K. Mohanty, registrar general and census commissioner C. Chandramouli and National Housing Bank chairman and managing director R.V. Verma. The committee submitted its report to Kumari Selja on Saturday. According to the report on urban housing shortage for the Eleventh Plan period, the urban housing shortage in the region was 0.55 million units in 2007, indicating an increase in the shortfall by 0.13 million units in 2012. Given the fact that the overall urban housing shortage in the country has declined 25 per cent from 24.7 million in 2007 to 18.7 million in 2012, the latest facts and figures are a matter of concern for the Northeast, where a rise in urban housing shortage in Nagaland and Manipur has contributed to the increase. In Nagaland, the shortage increased by 0.18 million units from 0.03 million in 2007 to 0.21 million in 2012, while in Manipur, the shortage rose by 0.03 million units from 0.05 million in 2007 to 0.08 million in 2012. It also registered a slight increase in Arunachal Pradesh — from 0.02 million units in 2007 to 0.03 million in 2012. On the other hand, the shortage decreased in Assam (from 0.31 million units in 2007 to 0.28 million in 2012), Meghalaya (from 0.04 million units in 2007 to 0.03 million in 2012), Mizoram (0.04 million units in 2007 to 0.02 million in 2012) and Tripura (from 0.06 million units in 2007 to 0.03 million in 2012). While unveiling the urban housing shortage figures, Kumari Selja said the Centre, states, urban local bodies and the real estate sector should work in tandem and build low cost affordable houses to reduce this gap in demand and supply of housing. The report, however, recognised the fact that eliminating housing shortage during the Twelfth Plan period, over and above maintaining the current rate of construction, would be a challenging task even with full involvement and cooperation of the private sector.