Assessing the compliance of balanced housing policy in the Philippines: the case of Davao City

Abstract

The Philippines have suffered continuing setbacks to provide a steady stream of supply of housing needs to the homeless urban poor. The reformist policy through the balanced housing principle of the Urban Development and Housing Act, has augured well as a strategy to cope with the socialized housing demand brought by rapid urbanization. This paper seeks to assess the implementation of the balanced housing policy by the State and the private sector, particularly in Davao city; explore the mechanisms used to ensure compliance including the modalities; and provides policy recommendation for the efficient implementation and compliance with the policy. A structured interview was afforded to 32 housing developers and extensive interview of key informants on the senior staff of city’s Housing and Land Use Regulatory Unit, some members of the city legislative council, and the staff of the regional administrative office of the national government’s Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board. Although there was compliance by the private sector, the developers have tweaked the policy resulting in a considerable loss of housing units in Davao City due to the policy’s ambiguous application. The fragmented and the lack of collaboration between the city government and the Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board, have likewise caused a failure in the compliance and monitoring efforts, coupled with the city’s lack of knowledge on the policy’s implementing guidelines. Hence, the city government of Davao needs to approach the problem of growing urban homelessness with creativity and urgency to accelerate the production of socialized housing through the balanced housing development policy.