P1 trillion needed to address Philippines housing crisis

“The backlog now, based on HUDCC (Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council) data, is 5.6 million by the end of the term of the President,” Ridon said in a press briefing in Malacañang.

“Based on the estimates of the PCUP, I think we would really need maybe around almost more than a trillion to respond to the housing crisis,” he added.

Ridon said the government spends about P20 billion for housing, only a ninth of the P180-billion budget recommended by his agency.

He said the occupation of government housing units similar to what happened recently in Pandi, Bulacan would continue if the problem is not resolved.

“If you fail to make actual steps toward resolving the housing crisis, I am quite certain something like this will happen again. So that means it is a continuing homework for all the agencies involved to perform well in terms of housing,” Ridon said.

Last month, urban poor group Kadamay forcibly occupied about 6,000 housing units intended for soldiers and policemen, as they criticized the government for its supposed failure to come up with an effective housing program for the poor.

Kadamay members justified their move by saying that they only occupied houses that have been idle for five years.

President Duterte has asked soldiers and policemen to let go of the housing units occupied by the urban poor group and vowed to build more spacious houses for them. He also warned Kadamay that government troops may use force if they try to seize other housing units.

Ridon clarified that allowing informal settlers to occupy housing units is “not the general policy.”

“I think the President had made it clear that when he allowed…Kadamay to continue occupying the idle housing units, he was merely referring to the idle housing units in Pandi,” he said.

Ridon said his agency is supportive of Duterte’s decision to grant new houses to uniformed personnel affected by the occupation in Bulacan and his pronouncement that he would allow Kadamay members to occupy idle houses.

“We believe that the President was guided by principles of social justice in making his pronouncement and serves as an affirmation of his firm commitment that no one will be left behind in this administration,” Ridon said.

He believes the Bulacan occupation is not a bad precedent but a “wake-up call to really confront squarely the problems that had been besetting the housing sector for the last few years.”

“The Bulacan incident gives us further resolve within the housing agencies to push for onsite and in-city resettlement as the main mode of resettlement of informal settler families affected by public infrastructure projects, court orders or disaster-induced relocation,” Ridon said.

Off-site resettlement, according to Ridon, should be abandoned as the main mode of resettlement and should only be considered as the “last resort” because of the costs of economic dislocation of informal settlers and creating new settlements with full services, utilities and livelihood.

Ridon said someone should be accountable for the building of the idle houses which he claimed are substandard.

“Talagang bulok ho ‘yung marami sa mga naitayo ho roon (Many of the houses built there were substandard) and we really have to be frank with everybody about it,” the PCUP chair said.

“And in fact, some form of accountability needs to be undertaken towards everyone that had been involved in building all of those houses,” he added.

Ridon said soldiers and policemen were not consulted on the location of the housing units.

“Obviously, in terms of the project planning itself, there seems to be a problem, for example, in terms of site identification, in terms of the quality of the housing themselves, in terms of the actual absence of facilities and services,” he said.

“Whatever accountability that can be exacted – civil, administrative, criminal – it ought to be undertaken in respect to this project.”