A 2016 University of Asia and Pacific (UA&P) study found that the country will have a housing need of 12.3 million by 2030 — given a backlog of 6.7 million from 2001 to 2015, and a projected housing demand of 5.6 million from 2016 to 2030.
Out of that 12.3 million housing requirement, here’s the affordability table:
(1) 15 percent or 1.88 million will need to be built for households who can’t afford to take on any form of housing loan nor subsidy – they are simply too poor
(2) 22 percent or 2.7 million can afford socialized housing (P450,000 and below)
(3) 50 percent or 6.2 million for economic housing (P450,001 and P1.7 million)
(4) And 12 percent or 1.53 million can afford low-cost housing (P1.7 million to P3million)
The same study also found that in 2015 there was an excess of around 253,300 high-end (or open-market) houses and 307,740 mid-priced homes, many of which were situated within the National Capital Region (NCR) and the country’s other urban centers.
These numbers point to the huge and continuously growing housing crisis in the country, where decent homes are becoming too expensive but affordable options are being built farther and farther away from economic centers — ultimately adding to the misery of working people.
Housing is one of basic human rights. No less than the Constitution mandates the State to ensure it, especially for “underprivileged and homeless citizens in urban centers and resettlement areas.” But as UP School of Economics Professor Emeritus Gerry Sicat noted in a recent column, the State hasn’t been able to fulfill this role given the fact that construction of affordable housing has been left mainly to the private sector.
In fact, the State enjoyed early success through the Philippine Homesite and Housing Corporation (PHHC), which is the forerunner of the National Housing Authority as the lead agency of government for housing projects. The PHHC however started to sell off its vast landholdings, marking the start of a shift from a state-led to a private-sector driven housing policy.
Prof. Sicat explained that due to a combination of market-driven forces and policies on rent control and mandatory compensation for the eviction of squatters, the housing supply for workers within city centers became tighter and tighter through the years. This opened the opportunity for rich land developers to come in, snap up landholdings, and landbank — to eventually become the primary source of housing.
Because the State stayed back and reneged on its mandate, the result has been overly burdensome for many workers — housing that is unaffordable and distant, many even hastily and shoddily built. This housing crisis is part of the reason why thousands of our workers have to spend up to 3 hours a day on the road to and fro from their homes and workplaces. Such crisis demands the full attention and effort of our leaders. (Email: angara.ed@gmail.com| Facebook & Twitter: @edangara)/PN
