“The 4PH program should really adopt a whole-of-government approach with the DHSUD encouraging close collaboration with other government agencies”
SHORTLY after assuming office on June 30, 2022, President Marcos Jr., announced among his priorities would be providing decent housing to families who cannot afford to have homes of their own.
The result is the mass housing initiative of the national government called Pambansang Pabahay para sa Pilipino (4PH) Program. Its ambitious goal is to construct one million housing units every year for a total six million units by the end of the current administration.
The flagship housing program is being implemented by the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development.
As the central housing authority in the country, the DHSUD consolidates the duties and functions of various agencies, including the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC) and the National Housing Authority.
But how serious is the housing situation in the Philippines at present?
The country now has a housing backlog of 6.5 million units. This number could balloon to 22 million units by 2040 if the problem is not properly addressed soon enough.
Some 70 million Filipinos also live in substandard housing, and this is projected to grow to 113 million people by 2030.
The housing shortage in the Philippines should be seen in the context of a rapidly growing population.
Our population currently stands at 114 million, and is estimated to reach 119 million by 2026.
In fact, the country has one of the highest population growth rates in the Southeast Asian region.
It should also be seen in the context of high poverty incidence in the country, which stands at roughly one-fourth of the total population.
Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the government projected poverty rates to be brought down from 22 percent to 16 percent of the total population.
For poor and low-income families, not to mention those already living on the streets due to extreme poverty, owning a decent yet affordable home appears unattainable, unless they can get help from the government. With the economic downturn due to the recent pandemic, the poverty rate has even increased, and more people face the grim prospect of being driven homeless.
Given these, how realistic is the target set by DHSUD for the flagship housing program?
In July last year, the DHSUD led by Secretary Jose Rizalino Acuzar announced over 100,000 housing units would be available this year. “We think we can deliver more than a hundred thousand actual houses next year because we are still constructing them.”
The projected number, however, is a mere 10 percent of the government’s yearly target of one million units.
Asked if the government is still on track to reach its target of 6 million housing units by the end of President Marcos Jr.’s term in 2028, Acuzar replied “almost,” since it is a new process and therefore “a bit slow.”
The DHSUD’s strategy to meet the housing shortage is to tap greater private sector participation.
By getting private partners, particularly contractors and developers, the agency can shift to high gear the nationwide roll-out of the housing program.
The agency wants to finance the mass housing program partly through private bonds: “If we use private bonds, it is a big source of funds, like what developers do if they construct a building, those are all private bonds.”
Secretary Acuzar is optimistic that, with the participation of more private partners, more 4PH projects will be launched soon.
About 40 projects, mostly composed of high-rise condominium-type buildings, are currently in various stages of development and construction throughout the country.
The DHSUD chief attributed the growing interest of private contractors and developers to the 4PH Program to the continuing releases of developmental loans by Pag-IBIG Fund.
Thus far, as of May this year, Pag-IBIG Fund has released a total of P761 million to private contractors implementing 4PH projects in Nueva Ecija, Bulacan, Ilocos Norte and Bacolod City. The Pag-IBIG Fund has committed P250 billion to the 4PH program.
Among the latest private contractors to join 4PH is Megawide Construction Corp., whose real estate arm PH1 World Developers was tapped by the Imus City local government as partner in the implementation of its 4PH project.
In the end, the 4PH program should really adopt a whole-of-government approach with the DHSUD encouraging close collaboration with other government agencies.
Apart from providing low-cost housing to poor and disadvantaged families, the government should see to it that they obtain easy access to transportation, livelihood/job opportunities, education and health facilities, among others. (Email: ernhil@yahoo.com)