Solon: Housing needs funding, not centralizing in a new department

Buhay Party-list Rep. and Senior Deputy Minority Leader Lito Atienza is pushing for more government funding for the housing sector amid proposals for the creation of a Department of Housing.

“While we commend the good intentions of the authors of the proposed creation of a Department of Housing, we believe that this will only slow down, instead of spurring, the development of the housing sector.

It will take at least one year to get things going in a new department, with jockeying for positions, so instead of increasing the pace of housing production, this will slow it down, he said. What the housing sector needs is for government to give it the funding and support it sorely needs.

All the bureaus and offices needed for housing are already established, he said. Production of housing for the poor is taken care of by the National Housing Authority (NHA). The National Home Mortgage Finance Corporation (NHMFC) and the Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board (HLURB) are set up to handle monitoring and supervision. The banks are already participating by providing housing capital. And developers are encouraged to produce. All that is needed is increased appropriation, Atienza said.

“Housing for the poor can be taken care of by the NHA and housing for the productive middle class is taken care of by the private sector. But it needs actual support in terms of funds and leadership. Not the creation of a Department of Housing,” Atienza added.

Atienza, a former NHA general manager, during the Marcos years, the NHA was very productive, delivering units, and reducing the housing backlog, because housing enjoyed the full support of then First Lady Imelda Marcos and President Marcos himself.

“All vacant lots and all government lots should be used for housing. The Local Government Code should be strictly implemented, as well as the Urban Development and Housing Act. If we implement these fully, then we will witness the decentralization of the housing sector. The solution is not centralizing but decentralizing the effort,” he said.