Latest news with #HousingandUrbanDevelopmentDepartment


The Hindu
5 days ago
- Politics
- The Hindu
T.N. CM Stalin inaugurates 700 new housing units for Sri Lankan Tamils
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin on Monday (July 7, 2025) virtually inaugurated over 700 new housing units for the benefit of Sri Lankan Tamils living in the State. These units have been constructed at a total cost of ₹38 crore. In line with the Chief Minister's previous announcement that over 7,400 new housing units would be constructed for the welfare of Sri Lankan Tamils, these units were constructed at 67 camps in 26 districts across the State. In the first phase, over 3,500 units were constructed and were handed over to beneficiaries at 32 camps in 18 districts. In continuation, the Chief Minister on Monday virtually inaugurated 729 units constructed in Salem, Dharmapuri, Tiruppur, Villupuram, and Virudhunagar districts. Mr. Stalin also virtually inaugurated new buildings constructed for the Revenue and Disaster Management Department at a total cost of ₹54 crore in various locations across the State. Ministers K.K.S.S.R. Ramachandran and S.M. Nasar, Chief Secretary N. Muruganandam, and senior officials were present on the occasion in the Secretariat. State Minorities Commission thanks CM In another event, members of the State Minorities Commission called on the Chief Minister and thanked him for the State government providing financial assistance to certain religious minorities, namely Buddhists, Jains, and Sikhs, for their pilgrimages. As the State government introduced self-certification under the Directorate of Town and Country Planning, functioning under the Housing and Urban Development Department, some beneficiaries who obtained self-certification called on Mr. Stalin and thanked the government for the new initiative. Representatives of the Confederation of Real Estate Developers Association of India (CREDAI) also met the Chief Minister and thanked him for the release of the 'Coimbatore Master Plan 2041' document, as well as key initiatives by the Housing and Urban Development Department.


Indian Express
7 days ago
- Business
- Indian Express
Risk-based classification key aspect of building byelaws
After a hiatus of more than 15 years, the Uttar Pradesh Cabinet on Thursday approved the 'Model Building Construction and Development Byelaws and Model Zoning Regulations for Development Authorities of Uttar Pradesh, 2025,' introducing a risk-based classification of construction projects, streamlined self-certification processes and uniform zoning across all urban authorities. Over 200 pages of byelaws and zoning regulations are set to change the urban landscape across the state. Under the new framework, residential and commercial buildings are categorised as 'low, medium or high risk'. Low and medium-risk' structures, from small homes to modest shops, will have to secure online approval through a 'self-certification' system that drastically reduces red tape. High-risk developments, including high-rises, group housing and industrial complexes, will continue to undergo detailed scrutiny. The Housing and Urban Development Department is developing a 'Fast Pass' digital platform to provide automated clearances for eligible projects. According to experts, the new byelaws will enhance the availability of space for commercial units within the state, along with relaxing regulations for mixed land use. These changes will simplify the process for obtaining permits for lower middle-class and middle-class housing, as well as facilitate the establishment of industries in rural areas. P. Guruprasad, Principal Secretary of Housing and Urban Development for the Uttar Pradesh Government, speaking to The Indian Express explained, 'These bye-laws have been developed after extensive research, considering not only current challenges but also future implications. We have analyzed the bye-laws from nine different states and incorporated insights from a central task force on re-regulations, which was led by the Cabinet Secretary in 2016. The new bye-laws operate on a trust-based system designed to reduce unnecessary burdens on authorities, allowing them to focus their efforts on high-risk areas.' He added, 'To manage commercial mixed use, we have capped it based on the area's population, ensuring it remains below and above 1 million, to prevent traffic hazards and clearly define road widths. The new laws also introduce Model Zoning Regulations for the first time, standardizing zoning across the state, which previously varied by Development Authority.' Sources noted that a significant change is the correction of land use inconsistencies; for example, Prayagraj had 45 types while Lucknow had only 18. Under the new bylaws, each Development Authority will now have 16 uniform land uses. Regarding the 'Fast Pass' system, Guruprasad explained that new software is being developed to provide automated clearances, evaluating applications based on the bylaws for instant approvals in select cases. Key takeaways from the new Model Building Construction and Development Bylaws include a 'risk-based classification' system for building approvals, emphasizing self-certification for 'lower risk and middle risk' buildings. Under the new byelaws, small residential and commercial structures are now classified as 'low risk' and require minimal oversight. Owners of plots up to 100 square meters for homes or 30 square meters for shops simply register online with a nominal Rs 1 token fee, self-certify their title, plot size and floor details, and may proceed without further permission or even a completion certificate—except in mela grounds or unauthorised colonies. 'Medium risk' buildings on plots up to 500 square meters (residential, excluding mixed-use units) or 200 square meters (commercial) must submit a plan drawn and certified by a licensed technical professional. Once fees and documents are filed, approvals are issued instantly online, with liability shared between the owner, applicant and certifying professional. Larger ventures, high-risk projects such as high-rises, group housing, multiplexes, community facilities or industrial structures on bigger or unplanned plots, follow a unified application process through a web portal and undergo full verification before clearance. The byelaws also standardise zoning across all development authorities, reducing Prayagraj's 45 land-use categories and Lucknow's 18 into 16 uniform types. Mixed-use permissions are capped by local population thresholds and road width requirements to prevent future traffic woes. Industrial estates and master-plan zones no longer need separate land-use change, and temporary tent cities for religious or industrial events under three months are exempt from permits. To protect the Ganga's banks, only the repair or renovation of existing structures is allowed within 200 meters, with new monasteries, ashrams or temples permitted at 35 percent ground coverage and 1.5 FAR, provided no drainage enters the river. Departments are now set to issue NOCs within ten days (PWD, NHAI, Urban Development) or 15 days (Forest, Fire, Railways, Metro, Irrigation), and routine works—plastering, re-roofing, flooring, whitewashing, disaster repairs or hand-pump installation—no longer demand permits. An online system will automate checks and further hastening clearances under these new byelaws.


The Hindu
04-07-2025
- Business
- The Hindu
T.N. CM Stalin releases ‘Coimbatore Master Plan 2041'
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin on Friday (July 4, 2025) released the 'Coimbatore Master Plan 2041' — a Geographic Information System-based plan that has been prepared for the Coimbatore local planning area, spread over 1,531 sq. km — at the Secretariat in Chennai. The Coimbatore local planning area includes a municipal corporation, four municipalities, 21 town panchayats, and 66 revenue villages — all of them spread over 1,531 sq. km, an official release said. The document has been prepared by the Directorate of Town and Country Planning under the Housing and Urban Development Department, with inputs from over 40 departments and agencies. Deputy Chief Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin, Minister for Housing and Urban Development S. Muthusamy, Chief Secretary N. Muruganandam, and senior officials were also present on the occasion at the Secretariat in Chennai. MoU signed In another event, a memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed to operate the Cuddalore harbour. The pact was signed between the Tamil Nadu Maritime Board and Mahathi Cuddalore Port and Maritime Private Limited, in the presence of the Chief Minister. Minister for Highways and Minor Ports E.V. Velu and senior officials were also present. 'Will help plan development' With the new master plan, 'the public can clearly know the land-use pattern for every survey number, areas available for building new industries, and reserve forest areas, among others. It will help plan development properly,' said Rajesh B. Lund, president of the Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Coimbatore. An official said the G.O. on the master plan is expected soon, and the plan will be uploaded on the government website. Mr. Lund said the master plan was a long-awaited demand of Coimbatore, and that it shows the growth of the region. The government should keep the plan open-ended so it can incorporate the demands and suggestions of the public when necessary. S.R. Arvind Kumar, president of Confederation of Real Estate Developers Associations of India, Coimbatore, said the plan released in 1994 had 59% of area earmarked for agriculture purposes. The revised plan has 33% earmarked as green area and has opened up the remaining area for development. It has incorporated ring road and sewage treatment proposals. The plan has envisioned the needs of the region when the population grows to about 60 lakh, he said.


Time of India
24-05-2025
- Climate
- Time of India
Odisha govt rolls out flood management plan for cities
Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government has introduced a comprehensive Urban Flood and Waterlogging Management Action Plan for all civic bodies across the state. The initiative of the Housing and Urban Development Department aims to safeguard the public health, infrastructure and livelihoods of people in urban local bodies (ULBs) through a series of preventive, preparatory and responsive measures, an official said on Saturday. The plan is made on drainage, solid waste management, flood-prone area mitigation, shelter preparedness, disease prevention and others, he said. The southwest monsoon seasonal (June to September) rainfall over the country is most likely to be above normal, another official said. Play Video Pause Skip Backward Skip Forward Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration 0:00 Loaded : 0% 0:00 Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 1x Playback Rate Chapters Chapters Descriptions descriptions off , selected Captions captions settings , opens captions settings dialog captions off , selected Audio Track default , selected Picture-in-Picture Fullscreen This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Opacity Opaque Semi-Transparent Text Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Opacity Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Caption Area Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Opacity Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Drop shadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Manufacturing Excellence with OMEA Award by ansoim & Manufacturing Today ansoim Learn More Undo "Under the plan, all the ULBs will set up monsoon-specific control rooms, which will operate on a 24/7 basis during the season, to promptly address public grievances related to waterlogging, blocked roads, and water supply disruptions," the urban development department official said. These ULBs are also asked to involve the community in the waterlogging situation, he said. Live Events According to the action plan, elected representatives, ward committees, local volunteers, and women self-help groups (WSHGs) will be engaged in local-level preparedness and response activities. The department has plans to hold a high-level inter-departmental coordination meeting before the first week of June 2025, involving fire services, drainage division, minor irrigation and other stakeholders to streamline efforts and ensure resource readiness. Minister for Housing & Urban Development KC Mahapatra said: "Proactive planning and community participation are the cornerstones of our strategy. Our goal is to ensure that urban areas remain resilient, safe, and prepared for the challenges of an intense monsoon."


New York Times
29-04-2025
- Politics
- New York Times
Housing on Federal Lands Aims to Ease Affordability Crisis
During his presidential campaign, Donald J. Trump pledged to quickly bring down prices for American households, including making housing more affordable. 'We're going to open up tracts of federal land for housing construction,' Mr. Trump said in August. 'We desperately need housing for people who can't afford what's going on now.' The Trump administration is now trying to follow through on that promise. Last month, federal officials created a task force that would identify and release federal land that could be used for housing development. The announcement is the first major initiative the Trump administration has rolled out to address the nation's affordable housing crisis. It is an idea that has bipartisan support. Both Mr. Trump and Kamala Harris, the former vice president and Democratic nominee for president, have supported efforts to build affordable housing on certain federal lands. Housing developers and researchers say the idea of making more federal land available for housing development holds some promise for Western states like Nevada and California, where the bulk of federal land is. But the initiative would do little to increase housing supply in other parts of the country where residents also struggle with high shelter costs, such as New York and Miami. Other challenges also exist before any housing can be built. Most of the federal government's land lacks the necessary water and sewer infrastructure to support residential communities. Environmental groups have also voiced concern over the administration's intent to sell public land because of its potential effect on wildlife habitat. As part of the effort, the Interior Department will identify locations that can support homes and aim to reduce regulatory barriers involved with transferring or leasing land to local governments or public housing authorities. The Housing and Urban Development Department will also 'pinpoint where housing needs are most pressing' and ensure that projects 'align with affordability goals.' Federal officials have estimated that 400,000 acres of federal land could potentially be made available for housing development, said Jon Raby, the acting director of the Bureau of Land Management. The estimate, which will continue to be refined, was determined after officials looked at land within 10 miles of cities and towns with a population of 5,000 or more, he said. The effort could be most impactful in states like California, New Mexico, Nevada, Arizona, Wyoming, Oregon, Idaho and Colorado, Mr. Raby said. Officials said the lands vary widely and range from deserts and grasslands to mountains and forests. The lands are generally uneconomical or difficult to manage because of their scattered or isolated nature and 'must meet specific public interest objectives.' In addition to the water, power and sewer systems that would need to be built, federal officials may have to contend with groups that believe that certain areas have higher habitat or conservation value. Mr. Raby said that the areas that officials were looking at generally had lower conservation value, but that the Bureau of Land Management would carefully review concerns. 'People love their public lands,' Mr. Raby said. 'Every acre is important to somebody.' The Bureau of Land Management will evaluate applications from interested parties, such as state or local governments, that request specific land to be sold. The agency will then assess any existing use of the land, and perform an environmental review and appraisal. Officials could then either lease the land or sell it at fair market value, according to the agency. Some analyses have found that releasing more federal land could result in the construction of millions of new homes. Selling about 544,000 acres of developable land — or about 0.2 percent of the land that the Bureau of Land Management oversees — could result in the construction of 1.5 million new homes on land near existing cities over the next decade, according to a recent analysis from Edward Pinto, a senior fellow at the conservative American Enterprise Institute. Another 1.5 million homes could be built over the next five decades if new cities are developed near existing metropolitan areas, the analysis found. David Garcia, the policy director at Up for Growth, a Washington-based research group focused on the housing shortage, said he thought the initiative had 'huge potential.' 'A lot of times when we think about federal land, we think about national parks or forestland or military bases, but there is a lot more land in urbanized areas than I think people realize,' Mr. Garcia said. Still, he said the process of releasing federal land could take years because of stringent procedures, and the federal effort alone would not be enough to make up the nation's entire shortfall of homes. Freddie Mac, the mortgage finance giant, has estimated that the nation is short about 3.7 million housing units. Jim Tobin, the president and chief executive of the National Association of Home Builders, said he was optimistic that making more federal land available for development could boost housing supply in some of the fastest-growing markets in the country, such as Las Vegas and Phoenix. 'Any land that we can make available would help in those markets in particular, and then you have the ability to continue to push the suburbs out,' Mr. Tobin said. But Mr. Tobin said the initiative could run into challenges because of local NIMBYism, or the 'not in my backyard' attitude that impedes housing construction because some residents fight new development in their neighborhoods. 'People just don't like changes to where they live,' he said. Federal officials say the new national initiative could replicate efforts that have already been done in Nevada. A 1998 law pushed by Harry Reid, who was a senator from Nevada at the time, allowed the Bureau of Land Management to sell certain public land within the state for purposes like housing construction. So far, the agency has sold about 50 acres of federal land specifically for the construction of about 1,060 affordable housing units in the state. But some environmental groups have already expressed concern over how the effort could affect public land. Athan Manuel, the director of the Sierra Club's Lands Protection Program, said that he was open to efforts to build more affordable housing on some land that is close to developed communities, but that he was deeply skeptical of the Trump administration's effort. He said he worried that new development could 'trample wildlife habitat' and that the public could lose land used for recreation. 'We think this is just a backhanded way of privatizing federal land,' Mr. Manuel said. 'We're going to assume the worst from this administration until proven wrong.' Some advocates said they were skeptical of the administration's attempt to address affordable housing because officials are also eyeing deep cuts to the housing department as part of a broader effort to shrink the federal government. Kim Johnson, a public policy manager at the National Low Income Housing Coalition, said building more housing on public land could make a big difference for certain Western states. But she said she was also concerned about the Trump administration's potentially 'decimating' the housing department's work force and cutting federal resources that could help address the affordable housing crisis. Ms. Johnson said she also wanted to see administration officials provide more details about how they would ensure that housing built on federal land would be affordable. 'The question is always: How affordable, and affordable to whom?' Ms. Johnson said. Kasey Lovett, a spokeswoman for the Housing and Urban Development Department, said that 'any efforts to streamline the department's processes and programs will help to make HUD more successful in its mission, including addressing our nation's affordable housing crisis.' Some homebuilder groups said they were optimistic about the effort. Dan Dunmoyer, the president of the California Building Industry Association, said the biggest challenge facing homebuilders in the state was a shortage of land that was both affordable and suitable for housing development. Mr. Dunmoyer said efforts to release more federal land could help spur housing development in California, given that the federal government owns about half of the land in the state. 'Land is hard to find,' he said. 'If there is land that's adjacent to urban cores that's available, that would be of interest to us.'