LOW WAGES, LACK of job security and high living costs are among the factors depriving poor Filipinos from availing units under the government-funded socialized housing program, according to a study of the UP Center for Integrative and Development Studies.
Implemented as early as 2022, the government’s flagship program referred to as 4PH (Pambansang Pabahay Para sa Pilipino) hardly improved affordability and accessibility for the poorest and is unlikely to address broader structural barriers without broader structural reforms, the study authored by Rafael Vicente Dimalanta, Vincent Eugenio, Abigail Roa and Jay-R Panagsagan was quoted by Business World.
“The diversification of modalities has yet to resolve the core accessibility and affordability challenges of social housing for the poorest, shaped by broader structural issues such as low wages, precarious work, and weak land governance,” it said.
It would cost P8,324.06 a month to avail oneself of a housing unit under the expanded 4PH program, the study said.
This comes as a mid-range high-rise unit under the 4PH Program that costs P1.5 million to amortize at that rate for the first 10 years, state housing data showed.
The researchers said a 4PH beneficiary may incur further additional expenses related to high-rise living, such as maintenance and operational fees, which could amount to P2,000.
BOTTOM 30% INCOME
The Philippine Statistics Authority said Filipino households belonging to the bottom 30% of income deciles — the “primary beneficiaries” of 4PH — earn monthly incomes of only P11,940. (first decile), P15,217.50 (second decile), and P17,369.17 (third decile), respectively, the study cited.
“Based on these figures, the housing payment for a mid-priced Expanded 4PH vertical unit would consume 59.35% of total household expenditures for the bottom 10% income earners, 49.06% for the bottom 20%, and 43.99% for the bottom 30%,” according to the study.
Many of these poor households work in the informal economy, receiving low or irregular wages while working under a short-term or contractual tenure.
The bottom 30% segment are families living in slum areas. They can neither afford to pay rent, much less acquire a house they could call their own.
“Given the income and expenditure profiles of the poorest households in the lowest 30% income deciles, it is evident that the combined costs associated with the Expanded 4PH significantly exceed the financial capacity of the program’s priority beneficiaries,” the researchers noted.
4PH ANOTHER FAILURE
The 4PH program is primarily designed to end the country’s housing backlog by building six million housing units by 2028.
However, only 1,900 units have so far been completed under the program since its launch, Human Settlements and Urban Development Secretary Jose Ramon P. Aliling told congressmen on Monday.
The government has kept a “manageable” goal of building 300,000 houses by 2028, Aliling said, but noted that it cannot hit the target if the 4PH program itself is not strengthened.
To better support beneficiaries, the expanded 4PH program allowed both vertical and horizontal or subdivision-type housing options.
It also included rental and incremental housing to consider beneficiaries’ financial situation and revived the community mortgage financing program by the Social Housing Finance Corp.
FOR PAG-IBIG MEMBERS
To become a 4PH beneficiary, an individual must be a member of the Home Development Mutual Fund or Pag-IBIG Fund.
However, the study noted that this poses a barrier, especially for informal workers with stagnant and low wages.
“The program’s financing structure and restrictive criteria thus reinforce exclusion undermining its stated goal of prioritizing the poorest who are most in need of housing,” the researchers said.
Recommendation is for the government to increase budget allocation for socialized housing
The study likewise hinted at the urgent need to align the program’s socialized housing amortization and rent with the financial capacity of the poorest households to ensure that their basic needs are not compromised.
It also cited the need to increase the government’s housing budget and lessen its dependence on the private sector in constructing 4PH units to make them more affordable to poor beneficiaries.
STIFF REQUIREMENTS
The government must also relax and make more flexible its eligibility criteria for irregular or informal workers to ensure the participation of urban poor groups in planning and implementation processes, and address bureaucratic delays, it said.
“These recommendations should be complemented by strengthened land governance to control speculation and the rapid escalation of land prices, which significantly hinders the government’s ability to make land available for social housing, and eventually undermines the affordability of land for social housing for the poorest.”