Why the need to revolutionize PH housing plan

Behind a robust property canvass, it is time to paint a different picture.

In a 2010 report, Metro Manila was said to be home to 2.8 million informal settlers—that’s 556,526 families living in improvised housing communities commonly referred to as shanty towns, which often lack property sanitation, safe water supply, electricity and other basic human necessities.

With limited opportunity for livelihood, heightened military conflict, and unabated poverty which continue to wreak havoc in the countryside, it is estimated that around 200,000 annually troop to the National Capital Region hoping for a better life. They prefer to be tagged as informal settlers rather than risk being impoverished in their hometowns.

The National Urban Development and Housing Framework (NUDHF) 2009- 2016 finds the housing problem to be serious and is a largely urban phenomenon.

The magnitude of housing need—defined as the housing backlog plus new households—is enormous and is estimated to reach about 5.8 million housing units. That is the official figure.

My unofficial estimate of the housing backlog—having been actively monitoring the sector for close to 29 years—hovers roughly around 7 to 8 million units.

And the gap is widening.

Annually, it is estimated that close to 500,000 new homes are needed to address the current housing requirements. Homebuilders, however, can only supply anywhere from 20 to 22 percent of the unmet need.

The Chamber of Real Estate and Builders’ Associations Inc. (Creba)—in its recent National Convention in Baguio City where I moderated the proceedings—cited disturbing figures.

I quote its president Charlie Gorayeb: “The 5.5 million housing backlog is too huge to be ignored. It threatens to balloon to even bigger proportions if supply and access continue to fail to cope with the consistent rise in demand as a result of population increase, rapid urban migration, and affordability gaps, and other factors.”

“The nagging housing problem transcends many other facets of the nation’s over-all economic and social development. Overcoming this condition will require the application of innovative government approaches coupled with creative strategies by the private sector,” Gorayeb further said.

Housing assistance

Meanwhile, the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council’s report for July 2010 to December 2015 showed that housing agencies provided assistance worth P313.6 billion to 894,569 families.

The assistance included the provision or funding of house and lot packages, developed lots, houses, or home materials for improvement or repair.

In addition to the direct housing assistance provided by the key shelter agencies (National Housing Authority, Social Housing Finance Corp. and Home Development Mutual Fund) the Home Guaranty Corp. HGC) guaranteed P222 billion worth of housing loans extended by private commercial and rural banks as well as other financing companies equivalent to about 127,500 housing units.

But are these numbers enough? Does HUDCC have the power to effect real change?

Glaring imbalance

From 2001 to 2014, the Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board (HLURB) issued licenses to sell to less than 2 million housing units, covering all housing segments, from socialized up to the open market group.

This performance rate, averaging about 130,000 housing units per year, is hardly enough to bridge the widening gap in housing demand and supply.

Despite all these, however, homelessness, unauthorized housing, and lack of decent housing remain to be a major headache.

Why? What has been the problem? Where, how and why did the programs fail?

The Philippine housing problem has become a social malaise, a clear injustice to those who have less in life. Without a roof over one’s head, it strips a person naked and robs him of his dignity to a decent life.

If we continue to ignore this boiling point, Metro Manila will have “shadow” cities comprising millions of informal settlers soon.

It is now a race against time. ([email protected])

Prof. Enrique Soriano is a National Agora Awardee for Marketing Excellence, an Asean Family Business Advisor, book author and executive director of Asean based consulting group, W+B Strategic Advisory. He has close to three decades of real estate experience and is currently the Program Director for Real Estate at the Ateneo Graduate School of Business.