HOUSING IS A TOP PRIORITY
To manage debt and unite a divided nation are some of the top priorities of presumptive president Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., but these are obviously motherhood statements.
At this time, the transition team may have already recognized that the party is over and it is high time that everybody rolls up their sleeves. Our debt to GDP ratio is inching closer to abnormally high levels and in a recent survey splashed in social media, 4 out of 10 families who were interviewed felt they were poor.
With the current state of affairs tilting towards another recession as a result of internal (debt) and external (geopolitical) challenges, draconian measures are needed to keep the economy afloat. In a recent interview, Marcos said he will hit the ground running. Without a doubt, he should and he must. There is no time left. The next 24 months will define his presidency.
A REAL AND AUTHENTIC NATIONAL HOUSING PLAN
According to a Habitat for Humanity report, “it is estimated that around 40 percent—in some cases, 75 percent—of the population in fast growing cities in developing countries is housed in squatter settlements without basic services. Cities are growing at an unexpected and exponential rate, often not aligned to urban planning and development. Many people are moving from rural areas to cities for work, and since the cities are not able to expand at the same pace, most of them end up in slums—overcrowded areas with inadequate access to safe water or sanitation, poor structural quality of dwellings and insecurity of tenure.”
In the Philippines, 70 million people live in substandard housing, and this is projected to grow to 113 million people by 2030. Housing indicators are sliding backwards. Rapid urbanization is driving precarious construction in oftentimes precarious locations.
Generally speaking, housing can be considered affordable if its cost (mortgage or rent) is below the 30 percent of the household income. If a family pays more than 30 percent of their income for housing, it is considered a cost burden.
The pandemic alone displaced thousands of people, compromising their cash flow and forcing them to pay more than 50 percent of their annual household income on housing, thus living in conditions of unaffordability. Some borrowers are likely to default but that segment is on the affordable side.
What concerns me is the state of the informal settlers—those who have no credit standing and are classified as “unbankable”. This de