New Delhi, June 3: The Centre has told state governments that whatever land they develop for housing, 30 per cent of it should be given to housing co-operatives at concessions.

The letter from Kumari Selja, junior minister for housing and urban poverty alleviation, comes at a time the country faces a shortage of 2.47 crore homes in urban areas.

The move is aimed largely to serve the middle class, which has been left to fend for itself with government agencies focusing on housing for the poor and private developers wooing the rich.

Selja has called a meeting of state housing ministers on July 18 to discuss how to promote housing co-operatives.

The National Urban Housing and Habitat Policy, approved last year, sees an important role for the co-operatives, which provide dwellings to their members on a no-profit, no-loss basis.

The about 92,000 primary housing co-operatives in the country have a membership of 65 lakh, and have built about 25 lakh homes.