MHADA housing lottery in Mumbai | Lucky draws for 8,205 low income families

Reforming slums in Mumbai and its surrounding areas

While Mumbai is an attractive location for the wealthy, the outskirts of the posh areas happen to be the largest slum population of any city in the world. While the efforts to establish a slum-free Mumbai have contributed to massive changes over the years, low-income families still struggle to stay afloat. The Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA) has come to the rescue, announcing a lottery that will provide 8,205 low-cost housing opportunities in the vicinity of Mumbai. The properties will be located in areas like Virar, Mira Road, Shirdhon, Khoni, Gotheghar, and Vengurla. The exclusive application process will only offer the housing opportunities to Economical Weaker Section (EWS), Lower Income and Middle Income Group (LIG, MIG) scheme homebuyers. The lottery will be conducted during Dussehra, a Hindu festival that signifies the victory of good over evil.

More specifically, low income is considered to be families who earn less than ₹25,000a month, while LIG covers the section that includes families with ₹25,000 - ₹50,000 ($337.17 - $674.33)  - monthly income. As for the middle group, the numbers range from ₹50,000 to ₹75,000 ($1011.50 - $674.33). A monthly income of ₹75,000 and above is considered stable, which does not qualify for the housing lottery. Housing minister Jitendra Awhad explained that this opportunity aims to strengthen the weaker sections of society.

“We have kept 97% of the houses for the economically weaker section (EWS) and the lower income group (LIG)...The entire computerized lottery system would be held in a transparent manner,” Awhad stated.

This isn’t the first of its kind, as the last lottery offered 1,395 houses to the winners in 2018. In years before that, the number of draws was considerably smaller. Unfortunately, the 2020 draw fell through due to the pandemic and a lack of available housing. Instructions for the application process are expected to become public on August 23, and the final results will be announced after the computerized draw on October 14.

Additionally, the housing minister, Awhad shared MHADA’s future plans to construct 10,000 houses in areas like Nashik, Nagpur, Amravati, Pune, and Aurangabad. While many have given up on the poverty-driven areas surrounding Mumbai, the Government of Maharashtra has been confidently aiming to make it slum-free by 2022. Back in 2016, at least 55% of Mumbai's population was reported to live in slums. It’s possible that the numbers will go down if the persistence of the faithful remains strong.