'Covid-19 pandemic increases need to get rental housing organised'

The pandemic has increased the need for turning the rental housing segment into an organised sector, according to Sriram Chitturi, Founding President of the Rental Housing Association of India.

Chitturi, who is also the founder of co-living space provider Guesture, noted that the transition from the unorganised to the organised sector in the rental housing segment has already gained momentum.

"The pandemic has increased the need for organising the rental housing sector and the transition from the unorganised to the organised sector has already gained momentum. The unorganised players will be losing out substantially because governments have started enforcing rules on the number of people that can be accommodated in a particular space," he said.

Noting that the pandemic and associated lockdown across the country has challenged the operations of corporate, he said that the concept of 'work from home development centres' is gaining traction.

He said that it is a hybrid model of work and home, a place where employees stay, work, live, socialise in the same managed contained environment and the work environment is tailor made for each corporate.

"This model enables business continuity for corporates, while protecting the health of their employees. It is also a risk mitigation strategy from potential liabilities as well as ensuring seamless client experience during pandemics," Chitturi said.

This is a near equivalent to an office environment, and an answer to most of the problems associated with work from home -- lack of enough work spaces, lack of customer permission, data privacy issues, client concerns, people who cannot work from home, stable broad band connectivity, damaging mental health, among others, he added.

He informed that Guesture will soon a work from home development centre in Bengaluru. The company is also planning to launch such centres in other locations such as Hyderabad, Chennai, Pune among others well, based on the demand.