CONGRESS will exercise its oversight powers to prevent the possible collapse of the government’s housing program, following the left-leaning urban poor group Kadamay’s arbitrary takeover of housing projects in Bulacan, Negros Occidental Rep. Alfredo Benitez said on Thursday.
“While P5 billion in annual funding for socialized housing may not be enough to cover the overall needs of the country, the funds appeared to have been directed to implement housing projects that the supposed beneficiaries would not want to occupy,” lamented Benitez, House committee on housing and urban development chairman.
Benitez called for the execution of an “urban renewal program” that would have in-city and near-city housing for the thousands of informal settler families. He said government could address the huge housing backlog “by merely allocating 30 percent of idle lands for the homeless.”
The lawmaker led an ocular of the thousands of housing units intended for uniformed military and police personnel in San Jose del Monte and Pandi in Bulacan.
He earlier warned of a possible collapse of government’s housing program unless “a swift review and redirection of the housing programs is pursued” by the National Housing Authority.
Benitez said the NHA complained that its measly 30-percent collection of amortization of housing units has dropped further to just 15 percent.
He agreed with the observation of the NHA and other housing program leaders that the Kadamay-led takeover of the Pandi houses last month would trigger the drop in amortization collections.
“This occupation of Kadamay unraveled a lot of issues about the country’s housing sector, which we didn’t pay attention to in the past years,” Benitez said.
Benitez noted that a “mismatch” between the NHA housing projects and the other settlements of the beneficiaries was glaring.
“What’s very concerning is that we keep on producing housing units that are not really acceptable to the beneficiaries or are lacking in the basic services,” Benitez said. “This could be the reason why the real beneficiaries of the housing projects, the men in uniform, appeared disinterested in taking advantage of the cheap housing units.”