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Tamil Nadu Housing and Urban Development Minister B Rajkumar has announced a comprehensive set of housing reforms covering digital approvals, expanded self-certification, dilapidated flat reconstruction and financial relief for housing borrowers.
The announcements were made during the debate on demands for grants for his department in the state Assembly.
Land-Use Applications Go Fully Digital
The Directorate of Town and Country Planning will digitise the entire process for land-use change applications.
Self-certification will be expanded to cover residential buildings of up to 5,000 sq ft and introduced for small commercial buildings of up to 1,500 sq ft.
Third-party certification will be introduced for:
- Commercial buildings of up to 3,230 sq ft
- Residential buildings of up to 8,070 sq ft
- Industrial structures of up to 26,900 sq ft in approved SIDCO, SIPCOT and ELCOT layouts
Local Body Approval Limits Raised
Approval limits for residential projects at local body level will increase to 16,140 sq ft for corporations and municipalities and to 12,912 sq ft for town and village panchayats.
Commercial approval limits for all local bodies will increase to 5,380 sq ft.
Procedures for reclassifying wet agricultural land in non-planned areas will also be streamlined through multi-departmental clearances.
Also Read: TN Working Women's Hostel Scheme: Benefits & How to Apply
₹2,883 Crore Plan to Reconstruct 12,648 Dilapidated Flats
The Tamil Nadu Urban Habitat Development Board plans to reconstruct 12,648 dilapidated flats across 20 project areas at a total cost of ₹2,882.62 crore.
Demolition of 9,918 unsafe units will be taken up first. The board will also deploy additional funding across its existing housing portfolio:
- ₹96.63 crore to renovate 41,664 old flats
- ₹355 crore to upgrade civic infrastructure across 208 housing sites
- ₹75 lakh to launch an integrated Smart Habitat Management Platform
Interest Relief for Housing Borrowers
For primary cooperative housing societies, the government will introduce a broad interest-waiver scheme for borrowers who have defaulted on repayments.
The scheme will also provide an additional one percentage point interest waiver for borrowers in the Low Income Group and Middle Income Group categories.
The LIG and MIG relief component directly targets the segments most exposed to repayment stress, particularly in a period when construction and living costs have remained elevated.
Also Read: Tamil Nadu Makes First-Sale Property Registration Online
A Reform Package With Multiple Levers
Taken together, the Tamil Nadu announcements operate on four distinct levels. First, digitalising the approval process to reduce friction for developers and individuals.
Second, expanding self and third-party certification to cut bureaucratic bottlenecks. Third, deploying nearly ₹2,883 crore to address unsafe and ageing public housing stock.
Fourth, providing direct financial relief to cooperative housing borrowers who have fallen behind on repayments.
Each element addresses a different gap in the state's housing ecosystem. None of them duplicate each other.
Together they signal a government moving beyond piecemeal interventions.
The direction is toward a more systemic approach to urban housing delivery and maintenance one that covers approvals, physical stock and financial access in the same breath.
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