Government’s housing arm will focus on providing housing microfinance in 2021 to make housing more accessible for Filipinos, according to its top official.
Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development (DHSUD) Secretary Eduardo D. Del Rosario was quoted in a statement as saying that apart from microfinance, the agency will also strengthen cooperation with local government units to build more socialized housing programs across the country.
“The department must also undertake policy reforms to accelerate housing microfinance as the primary pro-poor housing finance strategy,” Del Rosario said.
Apart from these priorities, Del Rosario said the DHSUD’s overall thrust for 2021 is the comprehensive development of the housing and urban development sector.
This involves completing the formulation of the National Housing and Urban Development Sector Plan, which will operationalize and mainstream the priorities and strategies of the DHSUD toward a vibrant housing sector.
Del Rosario added that the DHSUD will also focus on improving the department’s systems and processes next year, noting that the DHSUD is keen on further empowering clients and stakeholders, as well as focusing on its core functions.
“As we continue to perform our day-to-day activities, let us not lose sight of our vision in building inclusive and sustainable communities and human settlements, and channel our time and efforts to bring it to fruition,” Del Rosario said.
The country’s housing needs could balloon to 15.076 million by 2022. This was revealed by a study conducted by the University of Asia and the Pacific (UA&P) Center for Research and Communication-Habitat’s Terwilliger Center for Innovation in Shelter.
In a presentation, UA&P President Dr. Winston Conrad B. Padojinog said this is composed of housing needs for socialized, economic, and low-cost types of housing at 5.118 million, 2.11 million, and 1.915 million, respectively.
But the largest share of these housing needs housing needs for the unserved market which is expected to reach 5.933 million by 2022. This is composed mainly of the ODC segment.
The ODC segment, Padojinog said, accounts for 55 percent or around 3.1 million households of the unserved segment based on 2018 data. Their number could increase to as much as 3.3 million by 2022.
Padojinog said most of the country’s housing backlogs can be found in the unserved as well as socialized and economic segments. The backlog for the unserved segment has reached P5.623 million between 2001 and 2018.
The socialized segment has a price range of around P480,000 per unit while the economic segment is between P480,000 to P1.7 million. The backlog between 2001 and 2018 for these two segments reached 4.808 million for socialized housing and 303,934 for economic housing.