The Keralam government has approved a ₹1,000-crore special housing scheme to provide houses to 32,000 Scheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribe (ST) families during the current financial year.
Announcing the details at a press conference on Friday (October 30), Minister for Welfare of Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Backward Classes K.A. Thulasi said the scheme would cover 25,000 SC families and 7,000 ST families.
The initiative marks a return to a separate housing programme, with the government deciding to implement it directly through the respective departments rather than merge its funds with the LIFE Mission implemented by the previous Left Democratic Front (LDF) government.
According to Ms. Thulasi, the government has also enhanced the housing assistance for SC families from ₹4 lakh to ₹6 lakh. For ST families, the assistance has been increased from ₹4 lakh to ₹6 lakh for houses, and from ₹6 lakh to ₹8 lakh for houses in remote locations.
The Minister said ₹727.68 crore has been earmarked for the SC housing scheme, whereas the ST housing scheme has been allocated ₹252.52 crore. A further allocation of ₹20 crore has been set apart for housing assistance to particularly vulnerable sections.
Ms. Thulasi said the decision to revive a separate housing programme comes on account of the departments‘ experience with the implementation of the LIFE Mission. She pointed out that ₹120 crore allocated for SC housing in 2024-25 and ₹105 crore in 2025-26 had remained unspent and were subsequently returned to the Finance department.
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