‘Use idle public, private lands for socialized housing in NCR’

The joint committees on housing and urban development of Congress have urged the government to use public and private idle lands for socialized housing programs to erase the housing backlog in the National Capital Region (NCR).

This proposal was the initial result of the ongoing National Housing and Urban Development Summit conducted by the  House of Representatives  Committee on Housing and Urban Development and the Senate Committee on Urban Planning and Shelter and Resettlement.

Data from the House Committee on Housing and Urban Development showed that there are 584,425 informal settler families (ISFs) in Metro Manila, while the housing backlog is estimated at 5 million units.

Citing data from the Department of Interior and Local Government and Housing Urban Development Coordinating Council, panel chairman Rep. Alfredo B. Benitez of Negros Occidental said 1,234.85-hectare government-owned properties are currently being occupied by ISFs, while 2,185 hectares of public properties are available for housing programs.     Benitez added there are also 2,401.72-hectare private lands that are now being occupied by ISFs in the NCR.   “We are proposing the construction of medium rise or 4- to 5-story buildings [with estimated 100,000 to 150,000 units],” he said.

Benitez said the proposal is not just for ISFs, but can also be availed by low- and middle-income earners.

He said affordable housing provides a more “cost-effective” solution to address homelessness in the Philippines. “For many decades the housing backlog has been increasing for just only one reason—affordability. People don’t own a house and lot or a housing unit because they cannot afford it,” Benitez said.

Meanwhile, he said the culmination of the National Housing and Urban Development Summit will be held on April 4.

Benitez said more results and recommendations addressing the country’s housing problems will be presented during the event.

“The housing challenge in the Philippines has been largely attributed to the increasing housing backlog, bloating number of informal settler families in the urban centers and the lack of availability of affordable housing unit for majority of the Filipinos from the low- to middle-income segments,” he said.

“All of these not only reflect the widespread poverty in the country but also, the inability of the government to reverse the housing backlog for many decades now,” Benitez added.

source:  Business Mirror