ARE promises really made to be broken? This comes as the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development (DHSUD) hinted at reducing its promise of building one million low-cost housing units per year.
During the agency’s presentation of its promised 2025 budget, DHSUD Undersecretary Avelino Tolentino admitted that their target has been reduced to just 3.2 million units by 2028 – which means the administration won’t be able to address the country’s 6.8 million housing backlogs.
His excuse – slower population growth.
“Initially, we started with the target na parang one million [houses] per year. And then, now, we have an ongoing updating of the housing needs study. Lumalabas roon na bumaba iyong growth ng population natin so iyong projected housing needs, bumaba po,” Tolentino said.
“So now, we are targeting up to 3.2 million [until 2028], pero mataas po kasi yung guarantee and subsidy requirements niya. That number is still being crunched also to determine alin ang kayang i-guarantee at ilan ang kayang subsidize,” he added, in reference to the sovereign guarantee to contractors and a portion of each housing unit’s cost subsidized by the government.
Meanwhile, DHSUD Sec. Jerry Acuzar said he remains optimistic that the target will stay at 3.2 million.
“’Yung initial na 1.2 million housing units, madi-deliver yun. Naka-pipeline na yun, eh. Yung another 2 million na pinag-uusapan namin… kapag iyong sovereign guarantee magtuloy-tuloy, baka ituloy na yun ng administration. Pag natuloy po iyong two million, ang magiging target po ay 3.2 million,” Acuzar said.
“Kaya po ngayon, pinag-aaralan po namin, dapat matapos na namin ang aming pag-aaral, kasi dapat mag-umpisa na kaming tumanggap ng mga proposal at contractors for the projects,” Acuzar added.
The government’s housing program has 20 location sites nationwide so far. The unit price stands at a whopping P1.6 to P1.8 million per unit. (ANGEL F. JOSE)
