by Lovely A. Carillo
Margie, a fiftyish office worker who has retired from her job and is now into “selling everything for as long as there’s profit,” is working doubly hard these days to come up with the P200,000 she needed to prevent her housing loan from being foreclosed by the Balikatan Housing Finance Corporation.
She is just one of the almost 3,000 Dabawenyos who have defaulted on their housing loans for years. She actually originally owed the National Housing Agency which in turn was financed by the National Home Mortgage Finance Corporation. However, the latter’s collectibles have been assumed by Balikatan, and the corporation is now calling on their debts.
Bernardo, a 40-year old father of two who is renting a house at NHA Bangkal, however has another housing dilemma. He does not have any housing arrears. Sadly though, he does not have a house he can call his own.
Margie and Bernardo are only a microcosm of the real state of the housing industry in the Davao Region that is still wanting in so many ways. Shelter remains to be one of the basic needs not only of Dabawenyos but all humans and yet, owning one’s home has become more of a privilege and an opportunity than a right for majority of the people.
“A housing backlog of 263,952 has been identified for Region 11 between 2005 and 2010,” a report from the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council Central Office said. The data already includes the housing backlog for the medium term, plus the projected new households.
This translates to an average annual housing backlog of 43,992 for the region, with the most number of housing backlog projected for 2010 at 46,134.
HUDCC 11 regional manager Rosemarie Ta-asan said there is a disparity between the records of the HUDCC 11 and the HUDCC Central Office since the former only considered the urban and urbanizing areas while the latter included both urban and rural areas in the region.
Population growth versus housing needs
HUDCC 11 has attributed the increase in the region’s housing needs to the population growth. The whole Davao Region including the provinces of Davao del Sur, Davao del Norte, Davao Oriental and Compostela Valley has a total population of 2,143,153 which includes 444,219 households as of the year 2000.
With a total household population growth of 118,173 for the region between 2005 and 2010 and a housing backlog of 48,382, the Davao Region now requires 178,310 more housing units.
“By housing backlog we mean people who are presently squatting or occupying housing units for free with or without the consent of the owners,” Ta-asan said.
HUDCC 11 data show that Davao City leads the way with a household (HH) population growth of 49,011 from 2005 to 2010. Malita is a far second with a (HH) population growth of only 6,865 for the same period.
Davao City’s housing requirement is now 65,865, considering the six-year total (HH) population growth of 49,011 plus the housing backlog of 16, 854.
Housing backlog in the provinces
The province of Davao del Sur, consisting of the city of Digos, and the towns of Malita, Sta. Cruz, Sta. Maria, Bansalan and Jose Abad Santos, has a total housing need of 91,310. This is a result of the 72,159 total (HH) population growth for the province from 2005 to 2010, plus the existing housing backlog of 18,101.
In Davao del Norte which includes the cities of Tagum, Samal and Panabo as well s the municipalities of Kapalong and Sto. Tomas, there is an existing housing backlog of 57,207. This results from the total (HH) population growth of 23,860 and the existing housing backlog of 30,281.
Davao Oriental has a housing requirement of 8,842 as a result of the 6,827 (HH) population growth and the existing housing backlog of 1,692. Compostela Valley on the other hand, need about 16,799 housing units as a result of the 15,327 (HH) population growth and the existing housing backlog of 2,110.
Housing situation indicators
Data from the Davao Regional Development Plan for 2004-2010 as well as the Census on Population and Housing shows that of the 34,790 units targeted for construction in the Davao Region between 2001 and 2003, only 30.64% or a total of 10,658 housing were built during the period.
The 1990 Census indicates that the region actually has the highest percentage of informal settlers in the urban area at a rate of 7.5%, no thanks to the restrictive housing cost.
Socialized housing is needed by 41% of the households in the region, represented by 21% (of the 41% total households that require socialized housing) in the urban areas and 56% in the rural areas. The proliferation of high-end housing subdivisions in the city is glaring considering the percentage of population that needs socialized housing.
A low cost housing unit measuring 100 square meters can cost between P1,000 to P2,500 monthly depending on the development. In contrast, a high-end housing unit measuring about 150 square meters can cost up to P20,000 per month.
This has left poor families with the option to rent or to squat. The proliferation of informal settlers in the Region is also indicated by the number of housing units occupied by people without consent.
Of the total housing units in the Region, 81.7% are owned or amortized, 7.2% are rented while 10.7% are being occupied for free but with consent, as opposed to the 0.3% housing units occupied for free but without consent.
The economic status of the residents here can also be gleaned from their dwelling types, with 60% made of strong materials and only 28% with floors. When it comes to the basic facilities needed by the people, up to 60% of the households do not have lighting yet while 3 of every 10 households in the region consume unsafe water.
Data from the National Economic and Development Authority and the NSO also show that the number of households that occupy makeshift and unacceptable dwellings has increased by 62% from 1990 to 2000. A total of 292,716 families are living in houses made of bamboo, cogon and nipa roof and walls, while 10,881 families are living in makeshift houses.
The housing problem, specifically the lack of it, is actually a vicious cycle. The government’s inability to provide affordable housing projects for the poor will ultimately lead to more problems including squatting, which is prevalent even in a highly developed city like Davao.
