House Committee on People’s Participation chairperson and San Jose del Monte City Rep. Florida Robes has called for the passage of a measure seeking to allocate P50 billion annually to address the housing backlog in the country.
Robes said the total housing needs for 2022 is at 6,796,910 units and this will continue to rise if not addressed properly. By 2040, she said the backlog could reach 22 million.
She said the House Committee on Housing and Urban Development is finalizing the measure that will allocate P50 billion annually for housing production for a period of 20 years.
“The consolidated bill will allot P50 billion as initial seed money for the financing of public housing, resettlement program, government employees housing, subsidy for informal settlers, amortization support, housing program for calamity victims, among others. It’s already in the final stages before the committee approves the final version of the proposed measure and we will work to have it approved before the current session adjourns,” Robes said.
The bill is an offshoot of House Resolution 1677, which was adopted by the House of Representatives declaring housing crisis in the country.
Robes explained that the government and the private sector were only able to build 777,879 housing units from July 2016 to June 2020.
Under the 2021 national budget, only P3.974 billion or 0.08% of the P4.5 trillion budget was allotted for housing agencies.
“With such budget, it is estimated that the government can only build around 2,000 out of some 1.8 million homes it plans to build for informal settlers by 2022,” she added.
Robes said Congress should “step in to ensure that every Filipino family, especially the underprivileged, will have a decent house they can call their home.”