Philippines' 3.7-million housing backlog will not be cleared by 2028, DHSUD says

The Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development (DHSUD) says its target of 1.13 million housing units by 2028 will not be enough to clear the 3.7-million backlog, requiring robust private-sector production. The department's 2027 budget allocation of P5.49 billion is far short of its P60-bi

The government's housing targets are insufficient to clear the estimated 3.7-million housing backlog by 2028, and will require robust private-sector production, according to the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development (DHSUD).

The DHSUD aims to deliver the equivalent of 1.13 million housing units or direct assistance towards acquiring housing by the end of the current administration. Speaking at the department's 2027 budget briefing before the House Committee on Appropriations on Tuesday, Housing Secretary Jose Ramon P. Aliling said: “We do not expect these numbers, the 1.13 million, to address the 3.7 million backlog by 2028 because… private sector production (needs to be) included to address the backlog.”

Mr. Aliling said the 3.7-million housing deficit projected by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) does not represent uniform demand for brand-new homes. Instead, he noted that substandard housing that needs to be repaired accounts for 1.1 million households. The solution for this segment lies in accelerating community mortgage offerings, such as the Social Housing Finance Corp. programs to improve site developments and utilities, and tapping Pag-IBIG Fund improvement loans.

The second category, equivalent to 1.1 million homes, covers what are deemed “doubled-up” households, where more than one family has taken residence. Mr. Aliling noted that this phenomenon is not limited to poor communities, but has also been observed in enclaves of the affluent. The third category, accounting for 1.1 million households, represents the PSA projection for newly formed families seeking to live apart from their parents.

The funding gap between housing needs and the shelter agencies' allocated funding for next year is estimated at P54.52 billion, Mr. Aliling said. The 2027 National Expenditure Program (NEP) allocates P5.49 billion to the DHSUD and its agencies, well below the P60 billion they had put forward in their initial budget proposals. The NEP allocation is also 9.5 per cent lower than the funding provided by the 2026 General Appropriations Act.

“By way of background, our department is quite young, it's seven years old, but it is the primary National Government agency or entity responsible for the management of housing, human settlements, and urban development,” Housing Senior Undersecretary Henry L. Yap said. Mr. Yap added that the National Housing Authority has only been allocated P2.27 billion under the NEP after requesting P44.73 billion to support resettlement programs for displaced families, calamity victims, indigenous peoples, and former rebels. The Social Housing Finance Corp. was allocated P166 million, against its P4.6-billion proposal, while the National Home Mortgage Finance Corp.’s NEP allocation is P450,000, against its requested P4.75 billion.

To maximise the impact of limited public funds, Mr. Yap said the department has expanded the options available to beneficiaries of the Pambansang Pabahay Para sa Pilipino (4PH) flagship program. Homeownership pathways now include horizontal housing, community-led housing through the revived Enhanced Community Mortgage Program, rental and transitional housing, and the purchase of repossessed assets. In late June, 15 government agencies signed Joint Memorandum Circular No. 10-2026 to streamline the housing permit system, which is expected to reduce developer processing times by up to 15 per cent.