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Wednesday, December 28, 2005
Osmeña: Controversial public housing plan
By Antonio V. Osmeña
Estatements
Perhaps the most controversial legislation Reps. Raul del Mar or Antonio Cuenco will sponsor would concern low-cost public rental housing. Under such legislation, rental houses will be built using public funds and will be owned and operated by the government or an instrument of government, such as a municipal housing authority.
It is about time Congress pass laws permitting communities to form housing authorities that will have the powers necessary to meet the requirements to avail of national aid. These local bodies can purchase land (through condemnation proceedings, when necessary), borrow money, build and operate rental housing for low-income families that otherwise would have to live in sub-standard dwellings.
A rental housing authority, contrary to common belief, can function at a local level. The National Government merely provides financial assistance to make this program possible.
The rapid shift from diversified farming to manufacturing and commerce as a mode of livelihood has caused an equally rapid movement of population, thus creating new urban centers outside of Metro Cebu. Because of the relative fixity of land and the practical immobility of housing, the sudden migration — that is, internal shifting of population — brought about a serious imbalance of local housing supply and demand.
The hasty development of residential, commercial and industrial areas — and the inadequacy of interconnecting highways, byways and modes of transport — underlie most of the urban housing “ills,” which local and national legislation in the past decades have tried to alleviate and cure.
The causes, of course, which hampered normal urban growth are the unending political crisis.
Housing problems, no doubt, differ in magnitude and intensity in many regions and communities, but everywhere, these problems may be traced to the existence of neighborhood blight and slums and inability of low-income family groups to secure adequate and decent housing facilities.
Cebu’s urban areas can be made to duplicate Singapore’s housing scheme. Mayor Tom O with his political will can make Cebu City a pilot area for low-cost public rental housing.
He can create a housing agency that may be known as the Urban Renewal Administration, which will be tasked with the responsibility to use forceful measures to prevent slums and to remove, with effective local aid, causes of urban blight.
To prevent occupancy by other than low-income families that are the only ones qualified for the program, a household must show proof that it is not earning in excess of the maximum income set locally. The authority must re-examine the income of all tenant families periodically to adjust rents if necessary and to evict those families whose income have risen above the limit.
The rent to be charged a certain family should be based on household income and not on the size of the dwelling it requires. Each family will be required to pay not less than 20 percent of its income for rent, including utilities.
Local authorities must set maximum income limits, both for admission to the project and for continued residence, and impose a strict penalty clause on those who violate the occupancy and rental payment terms and conditions.
Cases similar to that in which beneficiaries of the N. Bacalso condo project of Cebu City sold their right of ownership to affluence parties, should be prevented.
Cebu City can obtain permanent financing by issuance of a local authority long-term serial bond, which can be secured by the National Government through the Home Guaranty Corp. It is about time the local government tap the Home Guaranty Corp. for a long-term bond issuance.
The business sector definitely will support such bond issue.
(December 28, 2005 issue)
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