BEING A DESTITUTE is no laughing matter especially in a country where resiliency has effectively transformed vagrancy as a norm.
For one, homelessness has become a common sight in many places across the globe amid lack of an honest-to-goodness human settlement program – or perhaps because of poverty.
Following the onset of what is aptly referred to as the Middle East crisis, people in countries affected by the war were either forced to leave their homes for safety and protection — or in some cases, lost their homes during missile attacks.
NOTORIOUS LIST
In the ranking of the World Economic Forum based on data from the OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development), the Philippines is ranked 9th in the list of countries facing severe homelessness, a global epidemic afflicting around 150 million people around the world.
The World Population Review website ranked countries with the most number of homeless people for 2024 based on OECD– a cluster of market-based economies collaborating to develop policy standards to promote sustainable economic growth data.
On top of the list is Nigeria with an estimated 24.4 million homeless people or 11.5% of its population of 214 million, followed by Pakistan with 20 million homeless or 8.6% of its population of 231 million and Egypt with 12 million or 11% of 110 million population.
Also in the list are Syria (6.568 million), Democratic Republic of Congo (5.332 million), Bangladesh (5 million), Colombia (4.934 million and Afghanistan (4.66 million).
NINTH ON THE LIST
Placing ninth was the Philippines with 4.5 million, of which the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights said about ⅔ are in Metro Manila, which is more than any other urban area in the world.
Of the homeless people in the Philippines, about 250,000 are children in street situations (CISS) or those living either in the streets and other public spaces, or in shanties in slum communities. The OHCHR added this number might be a gross underestimation as it might be as high as 1 million.
Important to highlight is that these numbers are from 2021 when the world was grappling with the pandemic, and by now it is possible that the figures may have either increased or decreased since then.
“The difficulty of addressing homelessness in the Philippines might rest in the absence of an overarching—if not uniform—definition of who are the homeless. The problem of definition has its practical implications, since certain governmental programs effectively yet inadvertently exclude the homeless.”
COSMETIC SOLUTIONS
While the government does have programs in place to address the needs and issues of the homeless, the OHCHR report hinted at what looks more like a cosmetic solution meant to conceal destitutes on the streets.
“Most of these policies focus on keeping the city ‘clean’ of the homeless, through interventions nudging them to go back to their provinces, or affording them grants for rental housing instead of prioritizing provision for in-city, permanent and affordable housing.”
The OHCHR particularly tagged the government’s Modified Conditional Cash Transfer for Homeless Street Families (MCCT-HSF) of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) and housing services provided by the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development (DHSUD).
Interestingly, the government has yet to close the gap on the 6.5 million housing backlog since DHSUD launched the Pambansang Pabahay Para sa Pilipino (4PH) Program.
HOUSING BUDGET
The country’s budget for the housing and community development sector in 2024 was approximately P24.4 billion, a decrease from P41.8 billion in 2023. It remains part of the broader efforts to address the country’s 6.5 million housing backlog.
The decrease in 2024 is due to changes in the funding structure for the Comprehensive and Integrated Housing Program.
DHSUD proposed a budget for it as a department in 2024 of P3.28 billion, which was double its 2023 level.
The National Housing Authority received the largest share of the budgetary support among housing corporations at P2,000 million (94.3% of the corporation budget support).
The 4PH of NHA saw 1.24 million units in the pipeline as of July 2024. To accelerate construction, the budget aimed to heavily fund interest support for beneficiaries rather than only direct construction costs.
SEVERE CONDITIONS
The highest concentration of homeless children in Metro Manila, back then at 250,000, is due to extreme poverty, rural-to-urban migration, natural disasters destroying homes and lack of affordable housing.
Most of them live in dangerous areas, such as sidewalks, public parks, under the bridge — and in some instances, cemeteries, or along railways.
Many of the homeless individuals are working but their meager income prevents them from accessing adequate housing. “Homelessness” encompasses informal settlers (slum dwellers) who lack formal legal tenure, not just those sleeping on pavements, notes VERA Files.
Homelessness thus includes rooflessness (sleeping rough), houselessness (temporary accommodation) and insecure or inadequate housing, all of which the UN classifies as severe human rights violations.
Homelessness is both a cause and consequence of poor health, creating intense challenges for managing physical ailments and mental illnesses. It causes high rates of chronic illness, trauma, and injuries from violence.
Efforts include providing temporary shelter, food, and social services. But the rise in numbers often overwhelms existing systems, requiring more comprehensive, long-term strategies, such as the European Typology of Homelessness and Housing Exclusion (ETHOS) which attempts to better define and address the problem.