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Vacant Homes Can't House Vidarbha's Desperate Migrant Workers

Vacant Homes Can't House Vidarbha's Desperate Migrant Workers
Vacant Homes Can't House Vidarbha's Desperate Migrant Workers

Millions of seasonal and migrant labourers across India continue to struggle with inadequate housing despite the central government's Affordable Rental Housing Complexes scheme launched in 2020.


The initiative, designed to provide dignified accommodation for urban migrants and low-income workers, has shown dismal progress in Maharashtra, particularly affecting labourers in the Vidarbha region who depend on cities like Nagpur and Amravati for employment.


National implementation data reveal a troubling reality that only 5,648 existing government-funded vacant houses have been successfully converted into affordable rental housing nationwide, representing less than 7% of the 83,534 properties originally identified for the programme.

ARHC Scheme Implementation: Design Flaws and National Shortcomings


The Affordable Rental Housing Complexes (ARHC) scheme was introduced in July 2020 by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs as a response to the significant reverse migration experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic.


Operating as a sub-scheme within the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-Urban framework, it specifically targets Economically Weaker Sections and Low Income Groups, including industrial workers, construction labourers, street vendors, rickshaw pullers, and other service providers.

The affordable housing programme operates through two distinct implementation models. Model-1 focuses on converting existing government-funded vacant properties into rental housing complexes through public-private partnerships or public agencies. These properties were originally constructed under previous housing initiatives like the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission and Rajiv Awas Yojana. Model-2 involves constructing entirely new affordable rental housing complexes on available vacant land by public or private entities.

Housing units under the migrant worker accommodation scheme offer varied options: single-bedroom units covering up to 30 square metres, double-bedroom units up to 60 square metres, and dormitories featuring four or six beds, each with up to 10 square metres of carpet area. A provision allows a maximum of one-third of the total units in any project to be double-bedroom accommodations. These affordable rental housing complexes must operate exclusively for rental purposes for a minimum period of 25 years.


Local authorities determine initial rental rates based on comprehensive surveys, with subsequent biennial increases of 8%, subject to a maximum aggregate increase of 20% over five years.


To encourage participation from both private and public entities, the scheme offers various incentives, including a Technology Innovation Grant specifically allocated for projects incorporating innovative, sustainable, and disaster-resistant construction technologies.


The affordable housing scheme initially accepted project proposals until March 2022. Following this period, the Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs launched PMAY-U 2.0 in September 2024, incorporating an Affordable Rental Housing vertical aimed at facilitating housing construction, purchase, or rental for an additional one crore eligible beneficiaries through a demand-driven framework.


Vidarbha's Housing Crisis: Vacant Units Remain Unused


Maharashtra presents the most concerning case study for affordable rental housing implementation failures. The state possesses India's largest inventory of identified vacant government-funded houses suitable for conversion under the migrant worker housing scheme, totalling 32,345 units.


However, official government reports confirm zero conversions under Model-1 in Maharashtra, which includes the Vidarbha region, despite this substantial potential for affordable accommodation.

This implementation failure becomes particularly significant when considering urban migration patterns in Vidarbha. Cities across the region attract considerable numbers of seasonal workers due to expanding economic opportunities and climate-induced displacement from drought-prone rural areas.


The state's inability to utilise existing housing stock means thousands of potential affordable rental units remain vacant whilst migrant workers continue residing in informal settlements lacking basic infrastructure and adequate living conditions.

For Model-2 implementation involving new construction of affordable rental housing, 82,273 units have been sanctioned nationally under the ARHC scheme, with only 35,425 completed across the country. All reported completions have been concentrated exclusively in Tamil Nadu, leaving other states, including Maharashtra, without any functional, affordable rental housing projects.


No specific ARHC project details for key cities like Nagpur or Amravati appear in central government data regarding sanctions or completions.


The substantial gap between identified housing potential and actual provision suggests deep-rooted systemic issues affecting affordable accommodation delivery. These barriers may stem from bureaucratic obstacles, insufficient political commitment, unsuitability of identified housing stock for scheme requirements, or state preference for locally-designed initiatives over centrally-driven programmes.


For migrant workers in Vidarbha, this translates to completely untapped sources of affordable rental housing, compelling thousands of labourers into informal and precarious living arrangements that lack basic amenities and legal security.


Climate change-induced migration from drought-affected areas within the region drives rural residents to urban centres like Nagpur, seeking alternative livelihoods.

This internal migration often results in precarious employment opportunities and severely limited access to social welfare schemes upon arrival in urban settings.


A critical systemic barrier to effective poverty alleviation and targeted housing interventions across Vidarbha remains the persistent lack of reliable and comprehensive data on marginalised communities, including nomadic tribes.


Nagpur and Amravati: Urban Housing Realities for Migrant Workers


Nagpur faces acute affordable housing shortages driven by continuous population growth and sustained rural-to-urban migration patterns.


The city's dynamic economy attracts steady influxes of workers seeking livelihood opportunities, yet affordable housing supply has consistently failed to match this demand, creating severe accommodation imbalances.


Pockets of poverty and informal settlements characterise large areas of Nagpur, featuring inadequate infrastructure and substandard living conditions that particularly affect migrant labourers.


Migrant workers in Nagpur frequently reside in slums or unauthorised colonies to minimise housing costs, often sacrificing access to basic amenities, including proper sanitation, electricity, and clean water sources.

The Nagpur Municipal Corporation has initiated independent local housing efforts, including ambitious plans to construct 2,500 new houses under the state-level Ramai Housing Scheme by 2025-26, specifically targeting Scheduled Castes and Neo-Buddhist communities. This scheme operates entirely independently of the central ARHC framework, highlighting the disconnection between federal and state housing initiatives.


The Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority's Nagpur Housing and Area Development Board, which oversees housing development across six districts in Vidarbha, currently lists ongoing projects including 40 Economically Weaker Section units in Bhamti, Nagpur.

However, these limited efforts fall far short of addressing the massive accommodation deficit faced by thousands of migrant workers arriving in the city annually.


Amravati shares identical migrant worker housing challenges, with seasonal labourers often forced to construct temporary shelters using rudimentary materials like plastic sheets and sugarcane sheaves.

These makeshift informal dwellings frequently lack access to basic necessities, including proper toilets, sanitation facilities, electricity connections, and reliable potable water sources. Reports from urban development programmes indicate persistent concerns about labour standards and systematic underpayment of migrant workers engaged in construction projects across the city.


A significant portion of urban households across cities like Amravati live in rental accommodation without formal contracts, highlighting the precarious nature of their housing tenure and the complete absence of legal security.


Nearly a quarter of urban householders nationwide reside in such informal rental arrangements, making them vulnerable to sudden eviction and exploitation by landlords who often charge excessive rents for substandard accommodation.


The complete absence of functional ARHC projects in these crucial urban centres perpetuates mounting socio-economic costs that extend far beyond individual health problems, psychological stress, and reduced worker productivity.


These broader consequences include systematic poverty perpetuation, social exclusion of vulnerable communities, increased public health risks from overcrowded settlements, and continued growth of informal housing clusters that lack basic civic amenities.


Policy Responses and Persistent Implementation Barriers

Policy Responses and Persistent Implementation Barriers in Vidarbha for housing to Migrant workers
Policy Responses and Persistent Implementation Barriers

Recognising persistent affordable housing challenges, the Maharashtra government unveiled its comprehensive "Majhe Ghar, Majha Adhikar" (My Home, My Right) housing policy in May 2025.


This ambitious policy represents the state's first major housing framework update in nearly two decades, setting targets to construct 3.5 million affordable homes by 2030, backed by a substantial ₹70,000 crore investment allocation.


The new state housing policy specifically addresses vulnerable group accommodation needs, including migrant workers, by introducing a dedicated state-backed rental housing scheme.


The policy offers significant incentives like tax benefits and increased Floor Space Index allowances for private developers to encourage their participation in affordable housing projects. It actively promotes the innovative "Walk-to-Work" concept, prioritising housing development near major employment hubs and reserving 10-30% of Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation plots specifically for residential use.


A crucial component involves an ongoing, comprehensive district-level housing demand survey scheduled for completion by 2026.


This survey will systematically gather detailed data on current living conditions, socio-economic profiles of residents, rental patterns, and migration trends to ensure future housing supply aligns with actual ground-level needs rather than theoretical projections.


Despite well-intentioned policy frameworks, multiple systemic challenges continue severely impeding the effective implementation of affordable rental housing schemes, including the central ARHC programme.

The scheme's inherently profit-oriented structure may inadvertently lead projects to cater primarily to salaried and formal sector workers rather than the most vulnerable urban poor and seasonal labourers for whom it was ostensibly designed.

Private sector interest remains limited despite government incentives, particularly when affordable housing projects lack clear financial viability or reasonable profit margins. This reluctance significantly hampers the public-private partnership model that forms the backbone of the ARHC implementation strategy.


Location mismatches present another critical implementation barrier affecting migrant worker uptake. Multiple reports indicate that ARHC projects are frequently situated considerable distances from actual workplaces, rendering them completely unviable for migrant workers who must prioritise proximity to employment sites to minimise daily commute times and transportation costs that can consume significant portions of their already limited incomes.


The scheme's rigid restriction limiting dwelling units exclusively to residential purposes, explicitly disallowing any commercial activities, directly conflicts with ground realities faced by many urban migrants who depend on home-based work, including small-scale manufacturing, food preparation, or retail activities for their primary livelihoods.


This inflexibility makes formal housing options impractical for workers whose survival strategies require integrated living and working spaces.


The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs maintains no comprehensive database on internal migration patterns, and crucially, no central registry exists for migrant workers across the country.


This fundamental data deficiency, particularly regarding nomadic tribes and other marginalised communities throughout Vidarbha, severely hinders the design and effective implementation of targeted housing and welfare programmes that could address specific community needs.

The absence of explicit income criteria or robust means-testing methodologies for beneficiary identification raises serious concerns that affordable housing schemes might consistently fail to reach the most economically vulnerable migrant populations, instead favouring those who are relatively better positioned to navigate bureaucratic processes and meet documentation requirements.


Leaders from various organisations consistently advocate for basic amenities, including reliable drinking water access, mobile toilet facilities, and subsidised meal programmes for migrant construction workers. They persistently call for systematic worker registration processes and portable identity systems that would enable migrants to access services across different locations without bureaucratic barriers.


These organisational efforts highlight the persistent scale of unmet needs and practical challenges faced daily by migrant labourers attempting to secure dignified housing and access basic services in urban areas.

Their work providing essential amenities in informal settlements clearly demonstrates the systematic failure of formal government policies to address immediate, practical needs of these vulnerable populations who contribute significantly to urban economic growth yet remain marginalised in policy frameworks.


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The NewsDirt is a trusted source for authentic, ground-level journalism, highlighting the daily struggles, public issues, history, and local stories from Vidarbha’s cities, towns, and villages. Committed to amplifying voices often ignored by mainstream media, we bring you reliable, factual, and impactful reporting from Vidarbha’s grassroots.

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