The Housing Backlog and The Duterte Administration

Author/s: Jonh Kelvin C. Manalaysay

Rizal Technological University, Mandaluyong, Philippines

Abstract: The DHSUD continuously pursue its goal and vision in compensating for the housing backlog of the
country, as a matter of fact they have an ongoing rehabilitation and housing construction on areas
devastated by wars and natural calamities. In addition to this, they also conducted relocation programs and
rental housing program in addressing housing backlog and the rapid growth of informal resettlements
particular in Metro Manila. These projects not just address the shortage in housing but also the ‘Ridge to
reef’ development of areas ensuring the safety, sustainability and resiliency of all human settlements and
urban developments throughout the country, while maximizing the potentials of our natural resources.
This concept or integrated ecosystems management process is done through the collaboration between
LGUs and the community composed of various stakeholders such as fishermen, farmers, the Indigenous
Peoples, women, urban poor, rural poor, youth, persons with disabilities, senior citizens, religious groups,
investors, local elected officials and others. Even the partnership and coordination with private sectors is
under the concern of DHSUD that will greatly help the addressing housing backlog and other issues in
relation to housing. Despite the recent establishment of the department, they made great work in taking
initial steps in addressing housing issues in amidst of the crises.

Keywords: Housing backlog, Ridge to reef, sustainable, resiliency

INTRODUCTION
Since the very first founding and creation of government housing agencies in the Philippines since 1938 and
1945, which is the People’s Homesite Corporation (PHC) and National Housing Commission (NHC), they
keep tracking annually the shortage for affordable housing for low income families. And as the years and
previous government administration passes by, this particular issue is not properly address and the housing
backlog just keep on increasing through the years. Now that the DHSUD is tasked to build human settlements
that are adequate in terms of delivery and access to services; with livable settlements that are safe, risk
resilient and environmentally sound, yet, affordable since home buyers are given choices of financial
modalities to access their preferred housing unit. It considers owning a house as a right, home ownership is
an option and it is the responsibility of the department to help every Filipino family who wishes to own a
home realize that dream.

This paper outlines how the DHSUD response to the challenges brought by the recent crises resulting in
widening the gap of housing shortage in the country. It also outlines how other stakeholders, particular to the
private sector, response to housing issues in coordination to the DHSUD.

CONTENT
1.1 Formulation of DHSUD
Through the previous administrations, and their constant changing or replacing our national agencies for
housing program for several times, and since that new agency has just been built recently it’s like that they
have to start from scratch in tracking, developing projects or programs particular in housing, and forming
solutions to address the housing backlog, and it could take a while or years for them to formulate such study
and solution. And for this reason, whatever is the number of housing issue that the HUDCC are trying to fill
has increased further now that it has been passed down to DHSUD since it has to start over again in organizing
and implementing new projects and policies. In addition to these, housing backlog has furthers increased due
to recent wars and natural calamities.

As for the current administration of President Duterte, the creation of DHSUD makes this department a
powerful agency for both housing and urban development by combining the mandates of HLURB and its
predecessor department which is the HUDCC and it is within under the authority and influence of the
President himself. It also absorbed the duties and functions of Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board
(HLURB) making a powerful housing agencies.

1.2 Marawi Rehabilitation

In the midst of challenges facing the country and the agency, together with the continuous and rapid growth
of population and urbanization, as well as the informal settlements on urban areas, and the devastation of
natural calamities, the housing backlog in the country has worsen as man-made disaster such as the
Zamboanga and Marawi siege has depleted the housing inventory. 1

The five months of unending firefight between the Daesh-inspired terrorists and the government troops in
Marawi City left the city in a distressing condition. The Marawi siege has resulted in the deaths of more than
a thousand terrorists, governments troops and innocent civilians. Apart from the loss of precious lives,
destruction to properties, both residential and commercial structures, was severe with a total of 49,785
households were wrecked by fire set by the terrorists, explosions and gunfire, of which 17,793 reside in the
most affected area or the so-called “ground zero” while 28,280 were from the less affected area and 3,712
were renters.

Now, the Marawi is getting back on its feet with the ongoing full-scale rehabilitation of the city, particularly
on the construction of temporary and permanent shelters for the most affected residence, on which they
already constructed 3,916 temporary shelters out of the target 5,266 units where most of it has already been
occupied under Task Force Bangon Marawi and NHA. Additionally, the construction of 3,500 permanent
shelters are also ongoing and being undertaken by the NHA, SHFC, and United Nations Habitat. 2 The
rehabilitation of Marawi into a modern and vibrant Islamic city has two major components, infrastructure
development and non-infrastructure intervention, which is about the building of horizontal and vertical
projects and requirements for social services, education, health, and everything that cannot be quantified
physically respectively, will be crucial for the healthy working society of the city with the establishment of
good governance and achieve a very peaceful environment. 3

1.3 Response to Natural Calamity

As for the natural calamities such as the recent typhoon Rolly, the strongest typhoon so far to hit the country
this year, this increased even further the number of families and individual who became homeless that
deteriorate the housing gap. The said typhoon has partially damaged at least 79,000 houses while another
30,384 has been destroyed, particularly in Bicol region and Southern Tagalog where most of the houses
damaged is made of light building materials. Those who are affected by typhoon Rolly will be assured to
receive assistance from the DHSUD, through NHA who will get the funds from its Emergency Housing
Assistance Program. The said assistance will provide P10,000 cash assistance to families whose homes were
destroyed and P5,000 to those whose houses that were partially damaged. And a possible resettlement for
families affected by typhoon will be conducted once the coordination with LGUs in formulating relocation
strategy and in-depth planning is done. And the funds will be coming from the National Disaster Risk
Reduction and Management Fund.4

1.4 Relocation of Informal Settlers

Some 750 families residing in Valenzuela City’s danger zones are set to move in the "Disiplina Village
Lingunan," a government housing project for informal settler families (ISFs). The local government, along
with the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development (DHSUD), has inaugurated on Thursday
the first phase of the third housing settlement project in the city. This is one of our biggest programs in
cooperation with the NGCP to relocate the residents in Valenzuela city that is living in danger zone areas
such as those who lives in city's riverbanks, those under the NGCP’s transmission lines, as well as those

1
SHFC Presents New Initiatives at Cebu Socialized Housing Confab. 2019. SHFC.
<https://www.shfcph.com/SHFC_PRESENTS_NEW_INITIATIVES_AT_CEBU_SOCIALIZED_HOUSING_CONFAB.html>

2
Del Rosario, E. October 2020. Marawi City Shelters On the Rise. Inquirer.net. <https://business.inquirer.net/309816/marawi-city-
shelters-on-the-rise?fbclid=IwAR2LHEOyWXDJJOX3lJKoC1lhJ7AeGUsHagcv6cZ7ICCxEvsJFwryaeFTluo>

3
DHSUD. October 2020. TFBM Chief: Marawi to Be Modern, Vibrant Islamic City. Philippine Information Agency.
<https://pia.gov.ph/news/articles/1056387>

4
Kabagani, L J. November 2020. DSHUD to Aid Typhoon-hit Families in Bicol, Calabarzon. Philippine News Agency.
<https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1120877>
affected by government projects and natural disasters. Once completed, the city’s third Disiplina Village in
Barangay Lingunan will house about 750 informal settler families living near transmission lines.

The DHSUD consider housing as a right of everyone and homeownership is an option, meaning if eligible
recipients are now able to raise their social status, they have a choice to return their housing unit to the
government and afford a better one that can accommodate their respective needs. The concept of the Disiplina
Village is to provide assistance to families residing in the high-risk zones so that they will experience
sustainable, resilient, and safe housing communities. They added that the city government has carefully made
various considerations to ensure that the relocation site would become favorable to those families who will
be relocated where they will have their own units, where they will be safer and have electric and water
connection as well and will give them the dignity to live.5

1.5 Rental Housing Program

The Balai Rental Housing Program (BRHP) of DHSUD as part of the Philippine Development Plan 2017-
2022 is a way of innovative solutions to address the housing shortage in the country. It is the proposed
innovations for public rental housing that will greatly benefits the homeless and the underprivileged, that
have envisioned to address home shortage and free the informal settler families from danger zones such as
flood prone areas and railways obstruction, and dense communities, where a large number of low-income
earners are unable to acquire their own lots and homes, hence, they are forced to “squat,” thus, allowing them
to live in a healthier environment while promoting relocation just within the city. This program also aims to
demolished the squatting syndicates particular in Metro Manila where people are forced to pay a rent in a
residence that is located in a danger zones since they have nowhere to go and their livelihood is just nearby.6

They included the developer groups like Chamber of Real Estate and Builders’ Associations Inc. (Creba),
National Real Estate Association (NREA), Subdivision and Housing Developers Association Inc. (SHDA),
and Organization of Socialized and Economic Housing Developers of the Philippines (OSHDP) to ensure
their advocacy of close engagement with the stakeholders and to ensure that the private sector coincides with
the effort of the government in the program. They also assigned other agencies and stakeholders to be in-
charge of site assessment, development planning, preparation of the terms of reference for the hiring of
developers, and tapping of subsidy funds for the project. They are also tasked to extend technical and financial
assistance for the development of the project and to review and assess its viability. The principal proponents
play a key role to ensure the sustainability of the BRHP as estate managers responsible for the maintenance
of the facilities, collection of monthly dues from the beneficiaries and for the provision of security, health
and other social services.

1.6 Partnership with Private Sectors

The DHSUD has strengthen the ties with the private sector, Philippine Association of Real Estate Boards
(PAREB), through signing in an MOC. This committed partnership of working together with the private
sector will help in their response to the challenges brought by the faster urbanization and rising population
on urban areas while having limited supply of government land for residential purpose, and impact of climate
change. They believe that this will help them in addressing the 6.57 million housing shortage, as they say that
the government cannot solve the housing backlog without the coordination and support of private sectors.
This partnership will greatly benefit not just the Filipino families and the government in addressing housing
issues but also the housing sectors for better business.7

5
Kabagani, L J. October 2020. Families Living in Valenzuela's Danger Zones Get Houses. Philippine News Agency.
<https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1118710>

6
Del Rosario, E. July 2020. Housing Innovation: DHSUD’s BALAI Rental Housing Program. Inquirer.net.
<https://business.inquirer.net/302883/housing-innovation-dhsuds-balai-rental-housing-program>

7
Pia. October 2020. DHSUD to Strengthen Ties with Real Estate Boards. Mindanao Daily.
<https://www.mindanaodailynews.com/news/nation/trending-news/dhsud-to-strengthen-ties-with-real-estate-boards>
DHSUD is also currently working on a policy framework to bring out the best the untapped potentials of
Homeowners’ Associations recognized under Republic Act No. 9904 or the Magna Carta for Homeowners
and HOAs, enacted in 2010. HOAs can serve as potent partners of both local and national government
agencies in addressing existing community and social issues and in shaping effective programs or adopting
mitigating measures. HOAs are crucial in the development of a community and in nation-building as they
interact directly with the people and have an immediate understanding of the situation on the community,
from simple issues like garbage collection to security, even as to what projects inside their subdivisions and
their immediate surrounding area would have positive impact on their lives. As we know that the DHSUD is
signifies not just plain housing development but the overall landscape in relation to its location, road
networks, links to other public infrastructure, places of livelihood and worship, educational facilities, sources
of electricity and telecommunications. 8 In short, DHSUD is not just about building housing units but more
on developing resilient communities and urban growth while protecting and ensuring their sustainability for
future generations, that is why the HOAs will be a great help to the department in developing livable, safe
and resilient communities.

Their partnership agreement with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) in their development of innovative
programs and projects in addressing challenges in the housing and urban development sector will also be a
great help against the challenges that the housing and real estate sector currently face, such as rapid
urbanization and its effects, urban governance conundrum, poverty in urban areas and the risks and
vulnerability to climate change.9

1.7 Realization of Projects in Response to Housing Gap

With the ever increasing in the gap of housing caused by continuous urbanization, rapid growth of population,
and the naturals and man-made disaster brought by typhoons and wars respectively, the DHSUD conducted,
implement, and formulate solutions in response to these challenges.

In regards to housing backlog, the rehabilitation of Marawi city, particular to housing construction for its
most affected residence and their assistance to the damaged homes for those typhoon-victims in the Bicol
region, has made a huge impact as initial steps in reducing the gap in housing in the country. Since that these
challenges have further increased the number of housing shortage, their response to this occurrence helps
realizing the lessening of the housing backlog. As they continue this particular project, they also began their
relocation operation to some families lives in some danger zone areas in the said cities in addition to informal
settlers of Valenzuela city who lives at riverside and railways obstruction. The said relocation program has
made in favorable to the families who will moved there with access to clean water and electricity. This also
helps in addressing the issues in housing backlog as well as the development of areas in relation to the welfare
of its community.

More than 200,000 families are informal settlers just in Metro Manila as of 2019.10 These residences are
mostly residing in slum districts, congested and danger prone areas. In response to informal settlement in
relation in addressing to housing backlog, the Balai Rental Housing Program (BRHP) of DHSUD will greatly
help in addressing informal resettlement in the country that will greatly benefits the informal settler families
and those families who rent house or unit. It will also give a livable and decent environment to the
beneficiaries of the program which is far better than their accustomed environment.

All of this projects and programs will not be possible with the DHSUD alone, that is why with the support
and cooperation and agreement with various stakeholders, agencies and private sectors such as ADB and
PAREB, they could work together with the Technical Working Group of DHSUD to address various issues
regarding the gap in housing. Their partnership with the Homeowners Association will also help them to

8
Del Rosario, E. October 2020. Role of Homeowners’ Groups in Nation-Building. Inquirer.net.
<https://business.inquirer.net/310858/role-of-homeowners-groups-in-nation-building>

9
DHSUD. November 2020. DHSUD Pushes for Innovative Housing Programs with ADB. Inquirer.net.
<https://pia.gov.ph/news/articles/1058669>

10
Castelo, M. October 2019. Manila’s Informal Settlers Face Relocation in Exchange for Clean Bay. Mongabay.
<https://news.mongabay.com/2019/10/manilas-informal-settlers-face-relocation-in-exchange-for-clean-bay/>
connect to the people of community and help to understand the situation of the community. Through HOAs,
this will also help them to determined what are the essentials and social services needed in the particular
community.

CONCLUSION
Even though the DHSUD has just been established recently they already conducted projects and programs in
response to the housing backlog and the current crises and challenges that we are facing. They also managed
to increase its House Construction Financing Line to P10 billion from only P2 billion, to serve as a housing
stimulus package. This would assist our partner-developers, especially small and medium developers, by
sustaining their financial needs for housing construction amid the pandemic. The cooperation and support of
the private sectors will be a huge help in the government’s address in the housing shortage, while maintaining
business development. Aside from addressing housing issues, the DHSUD also focus on the rehabilitation
and urbanization of cities that is also crucial in the community development. This will also give the its
community a sense of place with respect to their culture, health and welfare of the people.