Community Based Housing Finance Initiatives in Philippines
Introduction:
Among these community based housing programmes, the Community Mortgage Programme remains the most availed of by informal settlers who want to own the land they have lived on. The past decades have seen the Philippines experience remarkable growth in its urban population. Between 1960 and 1995, it is estimated that the urban population grew by 5 percent before slowing down to 3.1 percent in recent years.
Notwithstanding the difficulties of living in overcrowded places, people continue to migrate to urban areas in search of better employment and income opportunities. Rural-urban migration is further fueled by the indiscriminate conversion of prime agricultural lands for residential, commercial, and industrial uses. With smaller lands to till, farmers and farmhands are forced to find alternative employment in urban areas.
Housing Demand:
The average annual population growth rate of the Philippines declined from 3.0 percent in the 1960s to 2.3 percent in the 1990s. Between 2000 and 2007, the population further slowed down to 2.0 percent, the lowest average annual growth rate in the past five decades. Filipinos are currently estimated to number 88.6 million. This figure is expected to reach 111.8 million by 2020. Almost 63 percent of the country’s total population or an equivalent 53 million live in urban areas.
Housing Supply:
Against a target of 1.2 million units of housing assistance or shelter security units (e.g., house, house and lot or lot only) for the period 2001- 2004, the housing sector was able to provide 0.9 million units or an accomplishment rate of 73.6 percent. Of this total output, 0.49 million units were classified as socialized housing while 0.39 million were low-cost housing. Almost 0.22 million of socialised housing units went to the informal sector.
Demand-supply Gap in the Housing Sector:
It is evident from the previous discussion on the provision of housing that a wide demand-supply gap exists in the Philippine housing sector. The large demand for housing, particularly at the lower end of the market, is not sufficiently met by the supply of housing units.
Community Based Housing Programs In The Philippines:
The rising number of households living in informal settlements poses a major concern for the Philippine government. To help address this problem, the government initiated four community-based housing programs:
i) Group Land Acquisition and Development programme
ii) Land Tenure Assistance Programme
iii) Community Based Housing Acquisition Support Programme
iv) Community Mortgage Programme.
These housing programmes operate under the concept of community resource mobilization to provide low income households access to decent shelter and land tenure security. The Home Development Mutual Fund is the main implementing agency of the Group Land Acquisition and Development programme while the National Housing Authority oversees the Land Tenure Assistance Programme and Community Land Acquisition Support Programme. The Community Mortgage Programme, which is the most availed among these communitybased housing programmes, is managed by the Social Housing Finance Corporation.
Group Land Acquisition and Development Programme:
The Group Land Acquisition and Development programme provides financial assistance to organised groups of the Home Development Mutual Fund (also known as the Pag-IBIG Fund) members for the acquisition and development of raw land or partially developed land that will be the site of their housing units.
Land Tenure Assistance Programme and Community Land Acquisition Support Programme:
The National Housing Authority, through its Community-based Tenure Assistance Programmes, extends financial and technical support to organised groups/community associations of low-income households to help them acquire security of tenure. These programmes include the Land Tenure Assistance Programme and Community Land Acquisition Support Programme.
Community Based Housing Acquisition Support Programme:
The National Housing Authority began to implement the Community Land Acquisition Support Programme in 1997. The programme entails the provision by the National Housing Authority of technical assistance to community associations who have the financial capability to directly purchase the land they occupy or intend to resettle in. The programme is likewise applicable where the landowner is willing to be paid directly by the community association on agreed terms. The scheme is also applicable for the acquisition of National Housing Authority properties on installment basis.
Community Mortgage Programme:
Among the community-based housing programs implemented by the Philippine government, the Community Mortgage Programme is touted as the most successful in terms of beneficiary-reach effectiveness, cost effectiveness and higher loan repayment. The next chapter gives the details of the Community Mortgage Programme. It likewise provides an assessment of the Community Mortgage Programme as a government-housing programme for low-income households.
Conclusion:
The Community Mortgage Programme has often been regarded as the most successful housing programme of the Philippine government for low-income families. The programme’s performance during its 19 years of implementation is a good testament to this claim.
The Community Mortgage Programme provided decent housing units to the most number of beneficiaries and financed these at a relatively low loan cost. However, some implementation problems have plagued the programme since it inception which could hinder its effectiveness in fulfilling its objective of delivering housing for the poor. The government has been taking initiatives to deal with these issues but they are yet to be fully addressed.
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