Nearly half of all the affordable housing constructed so far under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-Urban remains unoccupied, according to the Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs’ submission to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Housing and Urban Affairs. The mission was launched in 2015 and meant to end in 2022, but has been extended till December 31, 2024, so that the 122.69 lakh sanctioned houses can be completed, the committee noted in its report on the PMAY tabled in Parliament on Tuesday. The scheme had four verticals—beneficiary-led construction, in-situ slum redevelopment, affordable housing in partnership and a credit-linked subsidy scheme. So far, 88.32 lakh houses have been completed. Under affordable housing in partnership, where private builders are incentivised to construct housing for Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) within their projects, out of 15.65 lakh sanctioned houses, 9.01 lakh have been completed, the report noted. About 54 per cent of them (4.89 lakh) are occupied and 46 per cent (4.12 lakh) remain unoccupied. Similarly, under the in-situ slum redevelopment vertical, where housing is constructed on or …