The collective budget of the country’s six key shelter agencies (KSAs) for 2017 was slashed by the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) to P15.266 billion, according to the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC).
In a recent presentation of the HUDCC at the House of Representatives, the allocation of the housing agencies for 2017 was lower by P17.248 billion. The KSAs had requested a budget of P33.21 billion, which was also lower than the P34.472 billion it received this year.
However, Vice President Maria Leonor G. Robredo said the focus of the housing sector next year will be on addressing “gaps” in the system of providing houses to millions of homeless Filipinos.
“While we need funds, I think at this time, it is more important to fix the system. Based on the projects I have seen, there were a lot of funds that were not maximized,” Robredo said.
Among the six KSAs, the National Housing Authority (NHA) suffered the biggest budget cut at P12.205 billion. The NHA’s budget was reduced to P12.636 billion, from the proposed P24.844 billion. In 2016 the NHA was allocated P34.472 billion.
The Social Housing Finance Corp. (SHFC) recorded the second-biggest budget cut. The agency’s allocation for 2017 declined to P279 million.
Data showed that the SHFC’s budget declined by P2.839 billion, from the agency’s proposed P3.811 billion. In 2016 the budget of the agency reached P1.996 billion.
The DBM had also slashed the budget of the National Home Mortgage Finance Corp. (NHMFC) and the Housing and the Land Use Regulatory Board (HLURB). NHMFC’s allocation was cut to P1.463 billion from P2.229 billion, while the HLURB saw its budget decline to P750 million.
Meanwhile, the DBM did not recommend any budget for the Home Guarantee Corp. next year. The agency initially sought an allocation of P1 billion.
The HUDCC’s budget for next year was also reduced to P138 million, from its original proposal of P152 million. This year the council received a budget of P871 million.
Earlier, Robredo said housing units built by the NHA for personnel of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and Philippine National Police (PNP) were among the projects that were “a waste of funds.”
In her recent visit to a government housing project in Barangay Batia in Bocaue, Bulacan, Robredo said only 800 units, out of the 4,000 units built were occupied.
The housing project undertaken by the NHA initially sought to address the housing needs of low-salaried military personnel. Data showed six out of 10 policemen could not purchase their own home.
Robredo said housing projects in Bulacan had the most “magnified” problem, because the province is considered the “catch basin” of all relocatees from Metro Manila.
This is also the reason the local government in Bulacan is encountering problems, especially because they have to provide for the social needs of the relocatees with their limited funds.