House approves redistribution of unoccupied gov’t housing units

Acting on the low occupancy rate of housing units originally intended for uniformed personnel, the House of Representatives unanimously backed a joint resolution authorizing the National Housing Authority (NHA) to redistribute the thousands of completed houses in government developed communities.

Voting through viva voce, the legislative chamber passed House Joint Resolution 11 authorizing the NHA to award unoccupied and unassigned housing units to other qualified beneficiaries.

Negros Occidental Rep. Alfredo Benitez, chairman of the House Committee on Housing and Urban Development, sponsored the legislative measure that was endorsed for swift approval by the House panel in response to the alleged “house grabbing incident” that the Kadamay urban poor group staged a few months back in Pandi and San Jose del Monte, Bulacan.

Benitez said that under the proposal, houses to be redistricted are those already awarded or still to be assigned housing units intended for members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, Philippine National Police, Bureau of Fire Protection, Bureau of Jail Management and Penology, and Bureau of Corrections.

Benitez said the measure seeks to distribute un-awarded housing units that are not yet occupied and whose ownership and possession is surrendered by their respective awardees.

The lawmaker said housing units whose respective awards were cancelled by reason of default in the payment of amortization or for any violation of the terms and conditions of the individual loan agreement were also included.

He explained that the non-use by the intended beneficiaries of the housing units resulted in loss of revenues on the part of the government, unnecessary exposure of the units to unfavorable weather condition and non-attainment of the objectives of the program.

“The low occupancy rate of the completed housing units will result in the loss of opportunity for the government to recover costs that can be spent for other social projects, fast deterioration of the units, exposure of the units to the risk of being occupied by families/ persons other than the intended beneficiaries and deprivation of the intended beneficiaries of the timely use and benefits of the housing projects,” he said.

Also, he said the low occupancy rate of the completed housing units by their intended beneficiaries is a clear indication of a “failed program in the face of the need for government to provide housing to a larger portion of its populace, an undeniably undesirable situation that needs remedial legislation.”

Under the resolution, the NHA may instead identify alternative beneficiaries and beneficiary-specific sites such as in the case of public school teachers living within the area, employees in the local government concerned where the housing units are constructed, barangay employees and functionaries and informal settlers who could all benefit from the unoccupied housing units.

Some of the units of this housing program in Pandi and San Jose del Monte, Bulacan has already been occupied by group Kadamay.

The Administrative Order 9, Series of 2011, directed the NHA to implement the AFP and PNP housing program, providing permanent housing sites for qualified low-salaried members of the Armed Forces and the police force. The project was expanded to include employees of BFP, BJMP, and BuCor in 2012.

However, Benitez said years after the implementation, several housing units constructed under AFP/PNP housing project are still unoccupied as verified by the Commission on Audit.

“The reported occupancy rate of the completed housing units for the program is at a mere 8.09 percent,” he disclosed.