bhubaneswar department for international development dfid uk will provide rs 400 crore for creation of affordable houses in eight indian states including odisha soon dfid country head sam sharpe said here on tuesday stating that dfid will for the first time venture into housing for the urban poor in india sharpe said dfid is at an advanced stage of finalization of the loan and equity proposal with national housing bank nhb in india he was speaking at a workshop on affordable urban housing in odisha dfid was so far involved in funding for health education and slum improvement in urban areas the new policy of development of this kind will be to expand housing involving the private sector the top dfid official said of the total funds for the project 80 will be equity finance and 20 will be technical assistance for private sector projects besides odisha the dfid aid will be available for uttar pradesh madhya pradesh chhattisgarh bihar west bengal and rajasthan according to government estimate india needs 22 million housing units for the economically weaker sections ews and low income groups lig odisha alone needs 410 lakh ews and lig houses real estate developers hope the dfid funding will boost the affordable housing market most of the buyers in the ews and lig segment work in unorganized sectors they dont get house loans easily flow of funds will definitely boost the sectors growth said d s tripathy joint secretary of confederation of real estate developers association of india credai