The next administration will inherit a housing shortage of 6.7 million units, which an urban poor group said can only be curbed if the presidential candidate who has a comprehensive plan to provide low-cost shelters to all poor families will win in the national elections.

The challenge for the incoming administration is to, at least, slow the growth of housing backlogs. If the government fails to ramp up its housing production, such a deficit may further swell to 22 million houses by 2040, according to the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development (DHSUD) in a 2020 public forum.

A nongovernment organization, Habitat Philippines, also estimated that the government needs to build 670,000 houses every year until 2030 to catch up with the deficit. However, the Duterte administration has only set their own housing completion target to mere 250,000 units per year. Worse, the government has failed to meet its own annual housing targets, except in 2018 (see sidebar 1).

But instead of allotting public funds to build low-cost houses, the government has given to the private sector the task of building socialized housing—a strategy that does not address the problem at all, according to Mimi Doringo, secretary-general of urban poor alliance Kalipunan ng Kadamayang Mahihirap (Kadamay).

And while the government’s housing supply remains scarce, Doringo said that around 55,000 housing units built under past administrations remain unoccupied years after they were finished. Some of those housing units left uninhabited were in Pandi, Bulacan—until thousands of homeless families asserted their right to shelter during the 2017 Occupy Bulacan movement.

Barely Surviving

Among those who took over the empty homes in Pandi was Eliza Nazareno, 52. Before moving to Pandi, she, her husband, and their grandson had to contend living in a makeshift shanty along the Bocaue River. When high tide coincides with heavy rains, waist to chest-level floods would enter their home, forcing them to evacuate to a higher place.

 “Hirap kaming kumilos at matulog sa bahay namin kasi parang pagpasok mo pa lang, nandoon na yung sala, higaan, pati yung lutuan,” she said. “Tapos di naman maganda yung daloy ng hangin doon kasi maliit lang espasyo kaya kawawa [yung] apo ko.”

Nazareno applied for the government’s relocation program dedicated for families living in danger zones. However, she was left out of the relocation process as the National Housing Authority (NHA) used a raffle system to determine who would get the limited number of houses.

When Nazareno heard that Kadamay was mobilizing to occupy the vacant homes in Pandi, she—without hesitation—joined them to finally have her own home. Had she not participated in the Occupy Bulacan movement, Nazareno said, it may have taken years, if not decades before they could move to a decent home.

Though they are now settled in Pandi, Nazareno is worried that the NHA can evict them should she fail to pay their P300 monthly amortization—a huge amount compared to her small earning as a laundry worker in Bocaue. Adding to her fears, the NHA has yet to grant their land titles though she has already submitted all the requirements of the agency.

“Ang hindi ko nga maintindihan kay Duterte, inanunsyo na niyang ibibigay sa amin itong mga bahay eh bakit ginigipit pa rin kami ngayon—minsan nga, may mga militar pa,” Nazareno said. “Parang lalo kaming nadidiin sa hirap kasi tinatakot pa kami ng mga opisyal na pag hindi kami nakapagbayad ng tatlong buwan, ipa-padlock na raw ang mga bahay namin.”

Profiting Off the Poor

Nazareno’s family belongs to the 4.7 million Filipino families across the country who cannot afford socialized housing or cannot avail of the government’s house financing programs, based on the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) 2015 estimates (see sidebar 2). These families, who are earning below P9,452, can only set aside 7 percent of their income for home-related expenditures.

The DHSUD, established in 2019 as a merger of the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC) and the Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board, was supposed to fast-track the development of affordable housing units. However, Kadamay pointed out that DHSUD may have only expedited the process for land developers to increase the price of the supposedly affordable homes.

From P450,000 in 2014, the government raised the maximum allowable amount of socialized housing units to P480,000 in 2018 (see sidebar 3). It may further spike to P533,000 per unit if the DHSUD will approve the pending appeal by private developers to raise the price cap due to increasing land and labor costs.

Socialized housing is now getting more expensive as the government continues to cater the interests of private developers instead of the poor, think-tank IBON Foundation said in a 2014 report. NHA, for instance, gave its contractors P426 million in advance payment though only 34 percent of its four housing projects in Bulacan, Tarlac and Rizal have been finished, a 2020 Commission on Audit report revealed.

While the government has already guaranteed its payments for the private developers, Doringo pointed out that it may take years before the projects’ beneficiaries can live in the socialized housing units. And on top of releasing advance payments, the government has also given incentives to private firms who will participate in their housing programs.

The Urban Development and Housing Act (UDHA) of 1992, for instance, encouraged private real estate developers to invest in socialized housing programs in exchange for exemptions in paying value-added and capital gains taxes for the project. The Ramos administration also ensured that the private sector would enjoy a 30-percent tax relief from their profit on the projects.

Real estate developers such as Ayala Land and Phinma Property Holdings were able to secure contracts in the housing projects of the last Aquino administration through public-private partnerships (PPP). Duterte, meanwhile, continued relying on PPP and granting income tax holidays and duty exemptions to real estate and construction firms such as in the P1.4-billion Passi City socialized housing project.

“Dapat yung nilalabas ng gobyerno na budget para sa aming mga mahihirap, talagang napupunta para sa benepisyo namin,” Nazareno said. “Yung pakiramdam kasi namin ay binabalewala nalang kami ng gobyerno, parang nakapiring yung mata nila sa amin kapag manghihingi na kami ng tulong.”

Collective Demands

Providing decent shelter for all Filipinos should be the target of the next administration’s housing policy, Doringo said. Instead of building expensive expressways and roads, the government must boost its housing production to ensure that everyone will be given proper and humane housing, she added.

While groups like Kadamay recognize the need to pay for socialized housing, at the very least, the NHA must ensure that it remains affordable for people who are only earning a meager wage. They also urge that the government prioritize the welfare of the relocated families, pointing out that most of its housing projects are in far-flung areas, which lack access to job opportunities and basic utilities.

“Sana yung mauupo sa puwesto, yung talagang nakikinig o walang diskriminasyon sa aming mga mahihirap kasi napapansin ko naman na halos lahat ay magaganda yung sinasabi nila tungkol sa pabahay, pero pag nakaupo na sila, di na nila kami pinakikinggan,” Nazareno said, adding that while it is harder to live in Pandi due to inadequate services, she no longer desires to return in Bocaue.

To begin with, Doringo said, the urban poor must be involved in planning housing programs so that the demands of their communities, such as affordable housing and on-site and in-city relocation areas, will be heard. Doringo cited the success of the Sitio San Roque’s on-site community development plan, which was made possible through the collaboration of the residents and the Quezon City government.

Mere representation from the urban poor, however, will not be enough to curb the country’s housing crisis. In 2017, IBON said the government must allocate P467 billion for housing every year to cut the gap in less than six years. However, Duterte allocated, on average, only P9.5 billion or 0.18 percent of the national budget to the housing sector—the lowest among the post-Martial Law presidents (see sidebar 4). 

While Doringo observed that most of the 2022 presidentiables presented programs to tackle the housing crisis, she said that their platforms must still be assessed if it truly matches their track record.

Francisco “Isko Moreno'' Domagoso, who claims that he is pro-poor, pledged that the housing budget under his term would be equivalent to 1.3 percent of the country’s total gross domestic product to reduce homelessness. However, Doringo pointed out that Moreno displaced families living in Vitas Street, Tondo, without assuring that they would be given a space in his Tondominium project.

Presidential candidates Leody De Guzman, Sen. Manny Pacquiao, and Vice President Leni Robredo have also promised to boost the housing sector’s budget, while Sen. Panfilo Lacson and Bongbong Marcos have yet to disclose their platforms.

The remaining days of the campaign will be crucial for all Filipinos, especially as Marcos, who does not have a clear platform in housing, currently leads the pre-election surveys. But no matter who wins in May, Doringo said Kadamay would continue to hold them accountable for their promises during the campaign.

“Kung sino man ang manalo, ang gusto naming ipaabot sa kanya na hindi kami titigil sa pangangalampag,” Doringo said. “Kung may dapat pasalamatan, magpapasalamat kami, ngunit hindi hindi kami magdadalawang-isip na magsalita lalo na kung naisasantabi na yung mga pangako nila na isulong ang interes ng mga maralita.”

Five years have passed since Nazareno first marched to Pandi and asserted her right to have a decent, safe, and affordable home. In the upcoming elections, Nazareno said that this is her chance again to challenge the presidential aspirants to craft a platform that will truly pursue the interests of the poor.

“Ang panawagan ko lang naman sa gobyerno ay sana nararamdaman talaga naming mga mahihirap yung mga ipinapanukala nila.” Nazareno said. “Sana yung susunod na presidente, siya na yung maghahatid sa amin ng mga pangangailan namin sa trabaho at yung kasiguraduhan sa aming paninirahan.” ●

Infographics by Keian Florino