Analysing the Present Rental Housing Situation for the Migrant Workforce in Delhi

Abstract

Delhi’s economy is highly dependent on migrants comprising about 50% share of the total population growth concentrated in the national capital as estimated by the Master Plan, 2021. In the year 2020, with the hit of the COVID-19 pandemic and a series of lockdowns in the country, the migrant workforce who lived in rented houses mostly in urban villages, slums, unauthorized colonies, peri-urban areas, etc. were forced to travel back to their native places as the lockdown severely affected their income, compelling the government to pay attention to the housing needs of the urban poor migrants leading to an additional policy under a separate vertical in Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, 2015 promoting the vision of “Aatma Nirbhar Bharat”. Thus, the formation of Affordable Rental Housing Complexes (ARHCs) focuses on affordable rental housing for the urban poor catering to laborers, rickshaw pullers, street vendors, and construction workers among all the other beneficiaries. The research was carried out through a primary survey in the form of a questionnaire for a selected economic centre in the city of Delhi, a study analyses the present living conditions of the migrant living in unauthorized colonies, unauthorized regularized colonies, urban villages, and informal settlements and the factors governing them to choose these locations. This research would act as a resource tool in changing the dynamics of rental housing choices and needs of urban poor/migrants paving a way for the opportunities and improvements through ARHCs provided in metropolitan cities like Delhi.