| March 06, 2008 06:32 PM Thursday [ journal.com.ph ] | |
THE House committee on housing has sought the immediate approval of a consolidated bill, which seeks to boost government efforts to solve the country’s housing problem by building one million houses within five years.
Rep. Rodolfo Valencia (1st District, Oriental Mindoro), committee chair, said they are presently tackling four complimentary legislative measures directed towards addressing the current backlog of 1.2 million housing units and the projected demand of another 2.5 million houses,
“The country needs to build at least 61,600 housing units per month or 2,503 homes per day for the next three to five years to enable the country to catch up on the housing backlog,” Valencia said.
This means a nationwide production and delivery of housing units at the average rate of 200,000 units annually, 16,666 units per month or 548 units daily, Valencia said.
Valencia warned if the shelter problem were not addressed immediately, it would create a serious problem that will hound the nation for decades.
Valencia said the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC) has already formed a task force to study the legislative proposals and draw the guidelines for the full implementation of the national housing program within 30 days.
Some P10 billion in seed capital for the implementation of the mass housing program will be requested from the Office of the President through the HUDCC.
“Congress has also allocated P300 million that was included in the General Appropriations Act since last year to jumpstart the said one million mass housing program,” Valencia said
Furthermore, Valencia welcomed lawmakers’ suggestions to put up the amount of P5 million from their Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) to facilitate mass housing program in their districts.
Meanwhile, Valencia stressed the need for government housing institutions and local government units (LGUs) to consolidate their efforts to construct housing units.
With their support and the cooperation of civic groups like the Gawad Kalinga and Habitat International, construction of large-scale housing program can be achieved nationwide, Valencia said.
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