NHA told to fix housing backlog
THE NATIONAL Housing Authority (NHA) should boost its cooperation with government agencies and stakeholders to improve its land management and address its backlog of 6.5 million housing units, a Philippine senator said on Monday.
“We enjoin the officials and representatives from different government agencies to collaborate actively and seriously in crafting new policy mechanisms to address the agency’s problems in production, collection efficiency, land management and disposition,” Senator Maria Imelda “Imee” R. Marcos told a Senate hearing.
The Senate urban planning committee is hearing a bill that seeks to extend the NHA’s corporate term, which will expire next year, by another 50 years.
Last week, Philippine President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. ordered the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development to study the cost of issuing sovereign guarantees for state housing projects.
The agency earlier said state guarantees would encourage state and private banks to lend to the program. — John Victor D. Ordoñez