The Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development is mulling to build an average of one million housing units annually until the end of the Marcos administration.
According to DHSUD Assistant Secretary for Support System Avelino Tolentino, the government's target will be anchored to its "Pambansang Pabahay para sa Pilipino" program.
"We're now aiming for six million housing units during this administration, so over the period of six years," Tolentino said, adding that the housing target rate is higher than the previous 200,000 units per year.
He also explained that the allocated funds for this program will not be directly used for housing construction but instead serve as a "housing interest support."
This will further increase the beneficiaries' "affordability level" and the building of houses will no longer be dependent on General Appropriations Act.
Citing the data from the Philippine Statistics Authority, Tolentino said the government needed to address around 6.5 million housing backlogs by end of this year and thus targeting one million housing per year will be a huge boost to resolving the housing woes.
Meanwhile, Tolentino said addressing the country's housing gaps will help Filipinos to improve their living conditions.
"So we want to make sure that every Filipino family has a place that he or she can call home," Tolentino said.
