A HOUSE committee approved on Wednesday a resolution declaring a housing crisis and called the housing units that will become available next year inadequate to address the shortage.
The House Committee on Housing and Urban Development approved House Substitute Resolution No. 1458, with its members urging the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development (DHSUD) to focus on providing housing to the poor.
Legislators said the DHSUD needs to better utilize idle government land and expedite its socialized housing program in partnership with the private sector. The Department of Finance and the Philippine Guarantee Corporation were also asked to create a housing finance system that will attract private sector participation.
“It is incumbent upon Congress to determine the efficient mobilization of government resources in the implementation of housing laws which will contribute to our economic recovery, growth and resilience, and will translate to the benefit of present and future generations,” according to the Substitute Resolution said.
Only 777,879 housing units were constructed between July 2016 and June 2020, behind the pace for demand estimated at 6,796,920 housing units by 2022.
“Unfortunately, the housing industry is saddled by rising urban land prices and regulatory costs,” according to a statement issued by the resolution’s co-author, San Jose Del Monte City Representative Florida P. Robes.
The government has allocated less than 1% of the national budget for housing between 2010 and 2021.
The housing crisis has led to the growth of informal settler communities, many of them in Metro Manila. The DHSUD estimates their numbers at 1,898,993 families, including 478,899 in the capital region. — Gillian M. Cortez