By Vincent Mariel P. Galang
HOUSING, particularly for low-income households, remains a big problem in the Philippines.
Data from the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA)
showed the housing backlog will reach 6.80 million units by 2022,
including the backlog of 2 million units as of Dec. 31, 2016.
A 2016 study by the University of Asia and the Pacific showed the
Philippines would need 12.3 million housing units by 2030, from an
estimated backlog of 6.7 million from 2001 to 2015 plus a projected
housing demand of 5.6 million from 2016 to 2030.
For legislators, the solution to the housing backlog is the creation
of the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development (DHSUD),
which will “shall act as the primary national government entity
responsible for the management of housing, human settlement, and urban
development.”
Congress approved the measure creating the new department, which
would merge the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council
(HUDCC) and the Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board (HLURB), and take
over the two agencies’ functions.
After being approved by both chambers last November, the bicameral
report on the DHSUD was forwarded to Malacañang last Jan. 16 for
President Rodrigo R. Duterte’s signature.
Senator Joseph Victor G. Ejercito, chairman of the Senate committee
on urban planning, housing and resettlement, said the new department
addresses the problem having divided agencies under the HUDCC.
In an email interview last Nov. 15, Mr. Ejercito said the HUDCC
“lacks the mandate and organizational setup to manage a National Urban
and Shelter Policy and administrative and technical supervision of the
attached housing agencies, as well as to solve the current mass of
housing and urban development issues.” He noted the HUDCC only takes
note of the activities done by key shelter agencies (KSA).
“We need one housing department and working towards one direction,
creating the roadmap for housing and urban development, leading its
implementation, setting the general direction for everyone, and able to
follow through each and every project with clear functions, policies,
budget and financing,” Mr. Ejercito said.
Angelito F. Aguila, HUDCC director for policy development,
legislation, and special projects group, said through the department,
the government will be able to control and supervise all programs and
projects for housing.
“Before, the HUDCC only coordinates. It monitors (the projects), but
we have no direct control and supervision,” he said in an interview on
December 3.
Mr. Aguila also said being a council, the HUDCC still has to
coordinate their actions with different relevant departments, which
slows down the delivery of the housing units.
As for the HLURB, he said it only determines the general guidelines
for land use planning of the different local government units and
ensures the compliance of the different subdivision and condominium
developers.
“The supervisory and the control over the KSAs is weak, just
coordinating and monitoring. Not controlling and supervision, which will
now be the role of the new department,” Mr. Aguila added.
Mr. Ejercito also noted that having a single housing department will eliminate red tape.
“The separation of HUDCC and HLURB can be considered a layer of red
tape. Not only do we eliminate this through the DHSUD, merging the
coordinating function of HUDCC with the land use planning and regulation
of HLURB we are finally integrating into one body the concepts of
housing and urban development, eliminating the conceptual disconnect
that adversely affects government housing projects,” the senator said.
NO NEED FOR NEW DEPARTMENT?
For Bayan Muna Representative Carlos Isagani T. Zarate, there is no need for the establishment of a new housing department, saying it will only worsen the problem it is supposed to address.
In an email interview on Nov. 8, Mr. Zarate said the measure
“prescribes the privatization of housing services, relegating the role
of the government to provide adequate, decent, affordable, public mass
housing to the business sector” leading the socialized service to
commercialization, profiteering, and racketeering.
“Private sector housing costs are way beyond what the low-salaried
can afford, how much more for the poor?… The proposal to resurrect the
creation of the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development
will only worsen the housing crisis,” Mr. Zarate said.
Under the measure creating the DHSUD, the department will facilitate
participation of local government partnerships, civil society
organizations, non-government organizations, and private groups. The
DHSUD will also enter into public-private partnerships and memoranda of
agreement or understanding with foreign or domestic groups.
Mr. Zarate also expressed concern with the decreasing budget for
housing, noting this is an effect of the government’s increasing
partnerships with private developers.
He cited data from HUDCC that showed the national budget for housing
plunged to P4.7 billion this year from P15.31-billion in 2017.
To support this, Mr. Zarate cited a comparative analysis done by Ibon
Foundation, Inc. of the 2018 National Expenditure Program (NEP) and the
2017 national budget. Ibon Foundation’s analysis showed the combined
budget of the six key shelter agencies, which include HUDCC, HLURB, Home
Guaranty Corp. (HGC), National Housing Authority (NHA), National Home
Mortgage Finance Corporation (NHMFC), and Social Housing Finance Corp.
(SHFC), plunged by 70.2% to P4.4 billion in 2018 from P14.8 billion in
2017.
When asked about the dwindling budget for housing, HUDCC’s Mr. Aguila
said the new department will have bigger budget allocations next year.
“In terms of budget… because of the bigger mandates, we will have
bigger budget allocations. Not just combined, but there are additional
mandates also…. Which would entitle us to claim for bigger budget,” he
said.
An additional mandate for the DHSUD, Mr. Aguila said, is that the
department will acquire land or properties that will be needed for
housing projects.
Mr. Aguila also noted the department is aiming to increase annual
housing production from 170,000 units to 250,000 units to reach a total
of 1.5-million housing units by 2022.
“The usual average house production of the government is about
170,000 per year. We are increasing that to at least 250,000 a year, so
that by 2022 (we will have) 1.5 million housing units… The other side of
it, the private sector, will be the one to produce also. The duty of
the government is to provide a good environment, regulatory environment
to encourage them to produce more houses,” he said.
“(The housing backlog) cannot be answered by 2022, but for now, the
task of the government is really to increase our production,” he added.
The Subdivision and Housing Developers Association, Inc. (SHDA), an
organization of private housing developers, is supportive of the
creation of the DHSUD.
“The moment the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development
Act of 2017 is signed into law, this country needs to kick off a
massive program of the urban renewal and as the largest organization of
residential developers, we will be ready to work hand in hand with the
government,” Jeffrey T. Ng, national president of SHDA and president of
Cathay Land, said in a statement.
“If we now have a department that is responsible for housing and
urban development, we could now begin urban renewal and slum upgrading
programs, which will be a key strategy to encourage housing delivery and
improve living condition of Filipinos,” SHDA Chairman and 8990 Holdings
President and Chief Executive Officer Willibaldo J. Uy said in the same
statement.
For Mr. Zarate, to solve the housing problem the government should address the roots of the issue.
“Government must then perform its role to provide its people of their
social and economic rights. Ensure decent wages, free distribution of
land to the tillers, work towards national industrialization, social
protection for the marginalized, among others,” the Bayan Muna
representative said.
The government must also prioritize funding for affordable, decent, public mass housing for the poor.
“Even on the issue of budget prioritization alone, we can readily see
that the solution to our mass housing problem is mere illusory. The
proposed collective budget for the KSAs does not meet even 1% of the
annual budget needed to address the current housing backlog,” Mr. Zarate
said.
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