MHADA lottery 2024: Why has the authority turned to street plays to boost affordable housing sales near Mumbai?

The affordable housing projects are located near Mumbai in areas like Virar, Thane, and Kalyan.

“We have decided to hit the streets to promote sales of over 14,000 affordable homes on a first come, first serve basis. We have identified 29 locations, including railway stations, petrol pumps, and government offices, among others, to promote the housing scheme,” said Revati Gaikar, Chief Officer of MHADA’s Konkan Board.

The MHADA said it is taking steps to sell affordable homes under the first-come, first-serve scheme, considering it has an unsold inventory of over ₹3,000 crore across Maharashtra.

According to MHADA, the affordable homes sold on a first-come, first-served basis (FCFS) range from ₹15 lakh to ₹20 lakh and are located in Virar, Thane, and Kalyan.

These are ready-to-move-in apartments and are offered with water and electricity supply. MHADA said the housing units in Virar also have a swimming pool and a clubhouse.

Location, price and other details

The majority of the homes being offered under the lottery are located in Thane city and district, including Kalyan, Titwala, Palghar, Raigad, Ratnagiri, and Sindhudurg’s Oras, Vengurla, and Malvan.

These affordable housing units are priced between ₹15 lakh and ₹1 crore. In total, MHADA’s Konkan has put over 16,000 affordable homes on sale, of which around 14,000 are being sold under the FCFS model, and the remaining are sold via a lucky draw. The last date for applying to the MHADA Konkan Board lottery 2024 is December 24.

Also Read: MHADA lottery 2024: Konkan Board increases number of affordable homes on offer by 4000

Why has MHADA turned to street plays to promote the housing scheme?

According to MHADA officials, the affordable homes on sale via FCFS mode were constructed and ready to move in over five years. However, these apartments did not get the desired response in the lottery due to the absence of social infrastructure around these projects.

“These buildings were constructed on the outskirts of semi-urban areas that were coping with water supply issues, but now all these apartments have 24-hour water supply and electricity connections. To add to the aesthetics, we have repaired the buildings and are adding gardens, clubhouse and swimming pool wherever possible in higher ticket size buildings,” said an MHADA official.

For example, in Thane and Kalyan districts, these buildings are close to Navi Mumbai International Airport, which has been delayed. Due to this, the official said that social infrastructure like schools and hospitals have not come up; hence, getting homebuyers here is difficult, even for private developers.

“The private developers are selling homes at double the price that of MHADA, and we are struggling despite being at half rate, which means basic facilities like drinking water supply, electricity and other social infrastructure are critical, which is now in line as we talk,” the MHADA official explained.

Also Read: MHADA lottery 2024: Divorced applicants to face additional scrutiny while applying for 2,030 affordable homes in Mumbai

Is this the first time that MHADA has taken to street plays to boost affordable housing sales?

According to MHADA officials, this is not the first time MHADA has turned to innovative methods such as street plays to sell affordable homes. “Before 2008, Mumbai had not seen a real estate boom, and 2 BHKs were sold for as low as ₹20 to ₹30 lakh in suburban areas. Due to this, MHADA lotteries used to get a poor response, and we had to turn to innovative methods such as street plays then,” a senior MHADA official said,

“Before 2008, MHADA had promoted row houses in Goregaon through street plays because demand for public housing was low then. Today, professionals are applying for 3 BHK apartments of MHADA in Goregaon for ₹1.35 crore. Back in those days, there were no offerings even at ₹70 or ₹80 lakh.,” the MHADA official added.

The MHADA lottery system was completely automated in 2014, and since then, MHADA has not had to resort to measures such as street plays to promote its housing schemes. “However, we are told that back in the late 1990s, MHADA officials had turned to street plays to promote apartments and row houses,” MHADA officials told HT.com

Also Read: MHADA plans to conduct two housing lotteries annually, create stock of 50,000 affordable homes over the next five years

Maharashtra government data show that MHADA, the nodal housing authority in Maharashtra for affordable housing, has constructed 5,05,802 dwelling units/tenements (including redevelopment) since its establishment in December 1977.