Rapid urbanisation acts as a pull factor for the migration of people from rural areas. Agricultural distress, on the other hand, acts as a push factor behind the large-scale migration of people to cities like Guwahati. Due to the steady flow of migrating people, the demand for low-cost housing has increased manifold in the capital city. Ironically, additional low-cost housing has remained the elephant in the room for this gateway to the Northeast, which has been rapidly growing both vertically and horizontally over the past few decades. Mega construction projects like bridges over the Brahmaputra, several flyovers, multi-storied apartments, new hospital buildings, star category hotels, renovation of the government schools, fast expansion of private educational institutions, shopping malls, and transformation in the transport sector have attracted global attention towards Guwahati as a rapidly growing city. While the city has offered new avenues of employment in industrial and service sectors, the employees desperately need low-cost rental houses for accommodation to increase savings for remittances back home. The remittances by migrating workers play a crucial role in increasing investment in agriculture and reducing further distress by meeting rising input costs. The city is also providing employment and business opportunities to the middle class, so getting low-cost houses or apartments on rent is very difficult, as demand for housing for salaried and business owners with better income is also much more, which pushes the house rent up, making it difficult for people with low income in the service sector to afford. The only alternative for them often lies in taking unauthorised houses built on the city hills for much lower rent. However, the rate of migration of people to fast-growing cities like Guwahati is much more than the pace of construction of government housing projects under flagship schemes like Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-Urban (PMAY-U). Moreover, the migration of people from rural areas to cities being an all-India phenomenon, allocation or financial assistance by the central government to the states must consider the demand from different states. This makes it difficult to address the issue of rising demand for low-cost and affordable housing solutions only through government expenditures alone. The scheme guidelines of PMAY-U 2.0, public/private sector agencies are encouraged to construct houses for Economically Weaker Section (EWS) beneficiaries under the Affordable Housing in Partnership (AHP) programme. It requires the states and union territories to formulate an “Affordable Housing Policy” to carry out various reforms on a time-bound basis and provide incentives to public/private agencies for increasing investment in affordable housing. Real estate growth in the city has led many private builders to undertake housing projects across the city. Spectacular growth of the real estate sector has demonstrated the capability of the private sector to deliver on housing projects to cater to rapidly growing housing demand in the city. The city authorities roping in key stakeholders in the real estate sector to utilise their expertise in construction of multi-storied apartments depending on the requirement and demand of apartment owners can facilitate undertaking mega housing project for low-income migrants to the city in public-private partnership mode. The PMAY-U 2.0 seeks to address the affordable housing requirement in urban areas through Beneficiary Led Construction (BLC), Affordable Housing in Partnership (AHP), Affordable Rental Housing (ARH), and Interest Subsidy Scheme. It stipulates that the beneficiary family will comprise a husband, wife, unmarried sons, and/or unmarried daughters and belong to EWS, Low Income Group/Middle Income Group segments, living in urban areas, and they should not own a pucca house either in his/her name or in the name of any member of his/her family in any part of India. EWS households are defined under the scheme as households with an annual income of up to Rs. 3 lakh and cover a large section of service sector employees working in the city to be eligible. LIG households include those having an annual income from Rs 3 lakh up to Rs. 6 lakh, while MIG includes households having an annual income from Rs 6 lakh up to Rs. 9 lakh. The scheme to be implemented till 2029 supports the construction of houses with a minimum of 30 square meters of carpet area along with basic civic amenities and social infrastructure. Further, states/UTs will have the flexibility in terms of determining the size of houses up to 45 sqm and other facilities in consultation with the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, without any enhancement in financial assistance from the central government. The Assam government or the city authorities undertaking a comprehensive assessment of housing demand under various categories is essential to arrive at the actual demand and plan accordingly. Better and safer housing accommodation for service sector and industrial workers will play a crucial role in enhancing their productivity, which in turn will attract more investors to initiate new business ventures. Low-cost housing projects in Guwahati will bring an additional benefit of reducing the intensity of artificial floods through the conservation of hills.