House panel OKs bill establishing rental subsidy program for informal settlers

The House Committee on Housing and Urban Development has approved a substitute bill seeking to establish a rental subsidy program for informal settlers in urban and rural areas in the country.

The substitute measure is a consolidation of nine bills creating the proposed rental subsidy program for informal settlers.

Cagayan De Oro City Representative Rufus Rodriguez, one of the authors of the measure, said the purpose of the bill is mainly to provide financial assistance to homeless families who are waiting for government-built permanent housing.

"[The state] shall, by law and for the common good, undertake…a continuing program of urban land reform and housing, which will make available at affordable cost decent housing and basic services to underprivileged and homeless citizens in urban centers and resettlement areas," he said in a statement on Monday.

“The aid would help them have decent living conditions,” he added.

Under the measure, informal settlement families are those "households living in a lot, private or public, without the consent of the property owner; or those without legal claim to the property they are occupying."

Those who are living in danger areas such as esteros, railroad tracks, garbage dumps, riverbanks, shorelines, and waterways are also classified as informal settlement families.

The measure provides a monthly rental subsidy of P3,500 for qualified informal settlement families in Metro Manila.

Meanwhile, for those who are in the provinces, the monthly financial aid will be set by the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development (DHSUD) and the National Economic and Development Authority, taking into consideration regional wages but not exceeding P3,500.

The National Housing Authority is tasked to determine the list of qualified beneficiaries for the financial assistance to be paid by the DHSUD.

Beneficiaries will continuously receive the financial assistance until they can transfer to a permanent housing project.

Following its approval in the committee level, the measure can soon be sent to the plenary for further deliberation and consideration. —KBK, GMA News