Over one in four Filipino households now extend to multifamily living arrangements because of high cost of living and a soaring backlog in affordable housing and the overconcentration in expensive condominium projects that further lead to land scarcity. Furthermore, housing policies barely catch up within population growth and housing trends
This is the finding of a recent study undertaken by state think tank, the Philippine Institute of Development Studies, a NEDA-attached agency, as it noted that more Filipinos now live with extended families, a sign that traditional family structures are shifting.
PIDS Supervising Research Specialist Tatum Ramos revealed that as of 2020, 28.8 percent of Philippine households are no longer the traditional nuclear type “veering away from the typical household head, spouse and a child because of rising rates of cohabitation among relatives and the growing role of shared economic survival strategies in household formation.”
“They have decided to join their relatives in a household to gain support in growing their own family or [to manage] living and housing expenses,” she said, citing the significant link between wealth and the likelihood of living in extended households.
‘They have decided to join their relatives in a household to gain support in growing their own family or [to manage] living and housing expenses… ‘
ADAPTIVE STRATEGIES
In extended family setup, there is sharing of resources and providing support for working young female adults who may not necessarily have the same amount of time for household management activities as before.
The study classified extended and multifamily households based on kinship and co-residency patterns, ranging from families living with parents or siblings to combinations of relatives outside the immediate family nucleus.
Ramos, however, does not view extended and multifamily households as problematic or symptomatic of poverty but representing adaptive social strategies.
Dr. Mary Racelis, UP Professorial Lecturer, called for “disaggregated data that reflects realities on the ground arguing that housing policies must move beyond abstract models to address the lived experiences of the bottom 60 percent of the population—or the underserved and priced- out of formal housing markets.
“We should recognize that the informal settlers are not the problem, they are the solution,” Racelis said, stressing that informal settlers are not mere passive aid recipients.
“Housing is the community setting… where people are working, where they’re getting their income… where their alliances are,” she stressed, adding that a holistic understanding is essential in designing sustainable and inclusive housing plans that reflect real economic and social conditions.
FUNDING GAPS AND ACCESS
Despite the 16 million members of Pag-IBIG (as of 2024), the uptake of government assistance for housing finance remains limited with only 4% of government assistance as financing source, noted NEDA OIC-Development Specialist Kevin Godoy.
Godoy underscored the importance of transport infrastructure, suggesting that long commutes, rather than urban congestion alone, are a major barrier to homeownership and household formation.
Godoy sought the urgent creation of a national rental housing program, since the Philippines is the only country in Southeast Asia with no national program on public rental, leaving local governments to experiment on rental solutions on their own in the absence of a national framework.
Executive Director Santiago Ducay of the Subdivision and Housing Developers Association emphasized the urgency of aligning housing plans with demographic realities pointing to the need for segmenting target beneficiaries like young professionals, the elderly and middle aged groups. “Each of these categories will have different concepts on sustainable housing,” he explained.
Ducay said that by 20240, the Philippines’ demographic structure will resemble a tree rather than a pyramid, with the growing aging population.
He asked for “forward-looking policies and programs towards the welfare of the elderly… not just normal vertical condominiums and subdivisions, but retirement villages.
Housing prices in the Philippines rose 6.7 percent in the fourth quarter of 2024 from a year earlier, based on data from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas.
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