Davao City Rep. Paolo Duterte on Tuesday appealed to fellow legislators to support the enactment of a measure that would grant rental subsidies to eligible informal settlers.
Duterte said this would help families living in hazardous areas or those rendered homeless by calamities to avail themselves of safe, decent shelter.
Duterte made the appeal in light of strong typhoons and other calamities continuing to displace tens of thousands of families.
House Bill 455 also covers informal settler families (ISFs) who do not have legal claims to the lots or houses they occupy.
Benguet Rep. Eric Yap and ACT-CIS Partylist Rep. Edvic Yap co-authored the bill that has been consolidated by the House Committee on Housing and Urban Development with 18 other bills that also aim to provide rental subsidies to ISFs. The recommendations of the House Committee on Appropriations have already been incorporated into the substitute bill.
The bill aims to institutionalize and further strengthen the ongoing rental subsidy and financial assistance program of the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development (DHSUD).
Under the measure, the rental subsidy will be determined by the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development (DHSUD) and the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA), taking into consideration the prevailing minimum wage and rental rates per region.
The financial aid will continue until the ISFs have been resettled to permanent housing projects constructed by the government.
“People forced to squat on private property because of poverty, those living in danger areas, and those who lost their homes due to strong typhoons and other calamities or because they have been affected by public infrastructure projects should be given the chance to live in humane, decent conditions while waiting to be transferred to their permanent housing sites,” Duterte said.
To be eligible for the rental subsidy, the ISF should not move or relocate back to the area where they were originally residing, unless permitted by the proper government authorities; and they should pay to the lessor the portion of the rental amount not covered by the subsidy.
The measure states that the rental subsidy shall not exceed the actual rent, provided that such subsidy may be reviewed or revised by the DHSUD and NEDA at any time but not more than once every two years to conform to prevailing economic conditions.