THE National Housing Authority’s (NHA) plan to include the poor and homeless of Bulacan in its socialized-housing program will only put into motion the same problems for the poor and homeless under the Aquino administration, Kadamay said on Thursday.
The urban-poor group said this move was meant to mislead the people in the occupation by offering them housing projects, while the agency continues to neglect the pressing issue at hand: socialized housing does not work and communities built on this have made the poor suffer even more.
“Socialized housing, as outlined in the Urban Development and Housing Act [UDHA], is inherently flawed. It requires ‘beneficiaries’ to pay the sky-high costs of amortization and without any proper utilities. Water and electricity are routed through private corporations and developers, which, in turn, double or triple the rates. Many of those relocated through socialized-housing schemes end up without a home and are forced to go back to the cities due to the high cost of living and lack of livelihood or jobs in the area,” Kadamay Chairman Gloria Arellano said. “We reject this offer. Walang bago dito, ang nais lamang ng NHA ay magkaroon ng mga bagong pagkakakitaan sa paniningil sa mga tao.”
Kadamay cited Article V, Section 18 of the UDHA, which gives way to corporations in collaboration with NHA to turn housing into a money-making, public-private partnership scheme. UDHA and NHA give hefty and numerous tax cuts and incentives to corporations that go through this process. In the end, the NHA is able to rake in the profits through amortization.
A study by the PIDS in 2012 showed the collection efficiency of amortization in off-city relocation sites is only at 4 percent. Also, there was a significant reduction in household income by around P3,466. People became poorer when entering socialized housing. This decline is still evident today.
Kadamay said the occupied homes are idle and have been for years. The group scored how the government is pitting the poor against one another and when the agency talks about “beneficiaries” of socialized housing, it pertains to those in communities that have yet to be demolished.
“The supposed beneficiaries are actually targeted to be victimized by the NHA. Wala kaming inagawan ng bahay dahil walang nakatira doon. Iyung mga sinasabi nilang beneficiaries ay mga maralitang ide-demolish pa lang. Kung totoo nga na danger zone ang mga sinasabi nilang lugar, bakit hindi paunlarin ang komunidad imbis na wasakin? Kahit kalian hindi gumawa ang NHA ng paraan para sa on-site development. Pagkatapos nito ay dadalhin sila sa mga relocation sites para singilin naman ng iba’t ibang bayarin. Kahit ang NHA, alam na ayaw ng maralita sa off-city relocation,” Arellano said.
Kadamay said this trend is all too familiar and became extremely apparent during the Aquino Administration where hundreds of thousands of homes were demolished. Arellano said the Duterte administration is now paralleling this cycle.
“Duterte is following Aquino’s anti-poor and neoliberal housing policies that further impoverished the urban poor at every turn. By retaining the UDHA and the NHA’s corrupt practices, problems for the urban poor will keep repeating themselves. The UDHA must be scrapped to make way for free and mass housing for the poor,” Arellano said as the UDHA anniversary approaches on March 24.