Duterte OKs joint resolution allowing NHA to distribute unoccupied housing units

President Rodrigo Duterte has approved the congressional resolution authorizing the National Housing Authority (NHA) to award unoccupied housing units to other qualified beneficiaries.

Signed on May 9, Joint Resolution 2 allows the NHA to award housing units that are unoccupied by personnel of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), Philippine National Police (PNP), Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP), Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP), and Bureau of Corrections (BuCor).

Also covered by the joint resolution were units whose ownership and possession are surrendered by awardees and respective awards were cancelled.

The resolution cited the 2016 Commission on Audit (COA) report which underscored the low occupancy rate of completed housing units.

For 2016 alone, the COA said of the 62,472 completed housing units, only 7,143 were occupied and the unoccupied units totaled 55,329.

A separate report of the NHA showed that of 74,195 units targeted for completion as of July 31, 2017, 63,836 units were fully completed.

Of these completed units, only 8,837 units were occupied.

“The low occupancy rate of the completed housing units by their intended beneficiaries is a clear indication of a failed program in the face of the magnitude of the need for housing,” the resolution stated.

The joint resolution came a year after  Duterte told soldiers to let the members of urban poor group Kadamay have the housing units they occupied in Bulacan.

He also promised to provide a better housing project for soldiers and policemen. —NB, GMA News