THE COUNTRY has a 6.5-million housing shortage and of these, 3.7 million are informal settler families, data from the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development (DHSUD) showed.
How can this housing backlog be reduced if not totally solved?
Public-private partnership.
Close collaboration between developers and government is highly encouraged.
Local government units (LGUs) may partner with the private sector. LGUs can provide the land, extend tax incentives, identify beneficiaries, conduct social preparation activities, and collect housing rent or fees. Meanwhile, the private sector can undertake the development, construction, and management services of the property.
In Western Visayas, Iloilo City is leading the way. It has partnered with a giant developer for condominium-type tenements. Other LGUs may take cue from this.
What else can be done to reduce the housing backlog?
LGUs with approved local shelter plans (LSPs) and their partners from the private sector play a crucial role.
At the local level, the DHSUD assists LGUs in creating an LSP. It is a roadmap that determines a city or municipality’s housing needs, analyzes household affordability and resources, formulates shelter strategies, and identifies partners for implementation. The LSP must be approved by the local council (sanggunian).
LGUs with approved LSPs can provide funds, do land banking, partner with the private sector for housing projects, or tap programs of housing agencies appropriate for their constituents.
However, according to DHSUD itself, only 311 out of 1,634 LGUs have approved LSPs as of November 2022, and this may imply that only a small percentage of LGUs give preference to the housing needs of their constituents. This is lamentable.
At the national level, key shelter agencies like the DHSUD, National Housing Authority, Social Housing Finance Corporation, National Home Mortgage Finance Corporation, and Pag-IBIG have provided housing and resettlement assistance to over 85,000 families and 16,000 ISFs and financed over 140,000 housing units.
Collaboration between developers and government is key.
Homelessness in a real problem.
