The Infrawatch PH is disputing President Rodrigo Duterte’s claim that free socialized housing for the poorest families is unfeasible because government lack funds to finance it.

Infrawatch PH convenor and former Kabataan Partylist Rep. Terry Ridon said distributing free housing units to the country’s 4.4 million poorest families can be undertaken by the National Housing Authority with an annual budget of P158.5 billion in next six years.

“For context, this is only 22-percent of the DPWH’s current budget of P695.7-billion,” said Ridon, who served the Duterte administration as former chief of the Philippine Commission for the Urban Poor.

Ridon said free socialized housing for the country’s households is a feasible policy platform.

“The President himself ordered the free distribution of socialized housing units for Yolanda victims and Metro Manila estero relocatees in Bulacan. How can he now say that free socialized housing cannot be undertaken due to lack of funding?” he pointed out.

However, instead of going all out in addressing the housing backlog by allocating more funds, the Duterte administration slashed funding for the housing sector this year.

The House of Representatives has also underscored the need to allot more funds as its leaders declared a housing crisis.

During a housing summit held in March, San Jose Del Monte City Rep. Florida Robes, vice chairperson of the House Committee on Housing and Urban Development, said the House panel has vowed to fast track passage of proposals that would address the 6.7 million housing backlog in the country.

“This is an ambitious goal I know because it is not easy especially now that we have the pandemic but we have housing officials who are passionate about their work and are very much willing to work together to fulfill their mandate of providing decent and affordable housing to all underserved Filipino families,” Robes said.

Ridon lamented that the current funding for housing is equivalent to only a mere two percent of the funding needed to provide free housing to the country’s poor.

“It should be noted that providing free housing to the country’s poorest families means that income spent on their shelter may now be used for other necessities such as food and education. In fact it may be used for new livelihood activities unimaginable due to shelter costs,” he said.