The Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development (DHSUD) does not expect to complete all six million housing units it intends to build by the time the President steps down from office in 2028.
At a Senate budget hearing on Monday, DHSUD Undersecretary Emmanuel Pineda said it might take three to four years before projects are completed. This takes into consideration the government’s procurement process, site development, and actual construction of the units.
The projection is based on the estimate that a 4 storey housing development will take 8 to 18 months to complete; a medium rise with 5 to 10 storeys, 18 to 36 months; and high rise or 10 to 30 storeys, 36 to 48 months.
“Meron naman pong makikita kasi within four years eh may makikita pong patapos,” Pineda said in response to the clarification of Senator Cynthia Villar who raised the issue that the President may no longer be able to see the completion of the housing units within his term.
Pineda clarified that while the completion will extend beyond the term of the President, the DHSUD intends to begin the construction of all six million housing units within the term of the President.
Data from DHSUD showed that the government’s housing program had a slow start with only 500 housing units launched in 2023. This, however, will gradually increase to 800 by next year creating a total of 1.3 million housing units launched.
This will be followed by 1 million housing units launched per year in 2025 and 2026 such that by the end of 2025, a total of 2.3 million units have been launched and 3.3 million in 2026.
The data also showed that 1.1 million housing units would be launched in 2027 and 2028 such that by the end of 2027, a total of 4.4 million housing units have been launched and 5.5 million housing units are launched in 2028.
The remaining 500 housing units will be launched in the first year of the next administration. To this end, Pineda said efforts are already underway to institutionalize the housing program, including the subsidies from the government.
With this, around 61,000 units should be completed by the end of next year; 546,000 by 2025; 1.459 million in 2026; 2.373 million in 2027; 3.246 million in 2028; 4.2 million in 2029; 4.886 million in 2030; 5.571 million in 2031; and all six million units in 2032.
“Based sa aming estimates, by the end of the term of the current administration, makakagawa po tayo ng around 4 million units, matatapos po the rest by the year 2032,” Pineda assured.
Meanwhile, the DHSUD reiterated its appeal for an additional budget of around P13.856 billion. The bulk of this will be allocated to the Social Housing Finance Corporation (SHFC) worth P6.92 billion.
This will cover the 4PH projects of SHFC, Crystal Peak Estate and People’s Ville HOA, each receiving seed money of P2 billion each. The additional budget will also be allocated for the Community Mortgage Program (CMP) worth P1.21 billion and High Density Housing Program (HDH), P1.7 billion.
Additional funds will be allocated to the National Home Mortgage Finance Corporation (NHMFC) worth P3.33 billion; National Housing Authority (NHA), P2.63 billion; and DHSUD, P975.7 million.
Some of the funds under DHSUD will finance the requirements to follow Executive Order 34 on the inventory of available and suitable lands for the 4PH worth P50 million and Executive Order 35 on the Inter-Agency Council for the Pasig River Urban Development worth P230 billion.
DHSUD officials noted that both Executive Orders were released after the Department of Budget and Management budget call period and thus were not included in the agency’s budget request for 2024.
Another priority program is the Integrated Disaster Shelter Assistance Program (IDSAP) which will corner P381.5 million of the DHSUD budget. This is part of the mandate of the DHSUD to chair the disaster shelter chair of the government.