The Senate and House of Representatives Committees on Housing and Urban Development are holding a National Housing and Urban Development summit in Sitio Lamesa, Barangay Ugong, Valenzuela City, Rep. Alfredo Abelardo Benitez (Neg. Occ., 3 rd District), said yesterday.

The summit will bring together all stakeholders in the housing sector to collaborate towards developing a common understanding of the magnitude and nature of the housing backlog as well as foster strong ownership of the policy recommendations and proposed program reforms, he said in a press release from his office.

Benitez, chairperson of the House Committee on Housing and Urban Development, said “ Obviously, our outlook for the housing sector has been worsening for decades now. In spite of the numerous programs being implemented by the key shelter agencies, we cannot seem to significantly lower the number of homeless Filipinos and make housing affordable for all”.

In his speech at the launching of the housing summit, Benitez said one of the biggest problems for huge housing backlog is that the country lacks plans and policies that will make it ahead of the curve.

The major housing concerns to be addressed in the summit are the 3.9 million housing backlog in the country, which is expected to balloon up to 5.6 million housing units by next year; as well as the issue of affordability, the press release said.

Benitez said the issue of affordability affects majority of the population. Both the informal and formal sectors are unable to afford the available housing units and loans provided by the government, he said.

He enumerated development of financing schemes that will allow the low and middle -income earners to afford housing projects and housing loans. He said that they are looking at the possibility of a public rental, which is a rent-to-own scheme wherein the government will provide lands and the beneficiaries will only pay for the upkeep of the buildings the press release said.

Benitez said that they are looking at the institutionalization of an on-site and in-city settlements only. “We do not believe that the first option should be relocation. The informal settlers are in the Metros precisely because this is where their source of income is. Relocating them to provinces will never be successful. They will just come back here again because their jobs are here. We should account for the additional costs to them such as transportation,” the press release added.*

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