Housing dream slips further for Manila’s working poor

By Beatriz Marie D. Cruz, Senior Reporter

ELISA T. IFURUNG still imagines the day she can stop packing belongings into rented rooms. The 69-year-old retired household helper has moved five times as landlords raised rents beyond what her family could afford, each transfer shrinking the chances of settling down in a home she can call her own.

Her son, who works at a business process outsourcing company, pays P4,000 a month for a one-bedroom house in Quezon City, where they live quietly and keep expenses tight. Buying a house, Ms. Ifurung said, no longer feels reachable.

“What matters is we are able to put food on our table everyday — other material things don’t matter, for now,” she told BusinessWorld in an interview.

She has heard of state-backed housing projects but said the paperwork, fees, and long repayment periods discourage her from even trying.

“Owning a house availed from government housing will take years to pay for,” she said. “These days, everything is so expensive.”

Her doubts play out against a deepening shelter gap. Government estimates place the Philippines’ housing shortage at 2.2 million units, driven by urban migration, land scarcity and wages that lag living costs. The Pambansang Pabahay Para sa Pilipino (4PH) program was designed to cut that backlog but has delivered far fewer homes than planned.

Since 2022, the program has completed 423,430 socialized housing units, well short of the original target of 6.5 million units by 2028, and below the revised goal of 1.1 million. Funding constraints, permitting delays, and affordability limits have slowed progress.

Marife M. Ballesteros, vice-president at the Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS), said the program’s reliance on a build-and-sell model shuts out many intended beneficiaries.

“Most workers seeking a home are low-skilled, have low wages and are mobile,” she said in an e-mailed reply to questions. “The government should consider lifecycle-adjusted housing interventions.”

Nathaniel A. von Einsiedel, former president of the Chamber of Real Estate and Builders’ Associations, Inc., said household earnings simply don’t match housing prices.

“While the population continues to increase, the income of the people is not rising commensurately with the increase in cost of the housing units,” he said by telephone.

In Metro Manila, where the daily minimum wages range from P658 to P695, many urban poor households rely on informal jobs with unstable pay and short-term contracts, reducing their capacity to carry long housing loans.

Price caps meant to make socialized housing reachable have also stretched. House-and-lot packages are capped at P844,440 for units measuring at least 24 square meters, while slightly bigger units can cost as much as P950,000. Socialized condominium projects carry a maximum selling price of P1.8 million.

Implementing rules allow additional charges of as much as P200,000 linked to zonal values, pushing total prices close to P2 million. For families near or below the poverty line, those figures remain out of reach.

Dino Mari G. Palanca, director for marketing and research at Savills Philippines, said Metro Manila’s supply does not match demand.

“Much of the unmet demand comes from lower- and middle-income households, while a large portion of new supply — particularly in Metro Manila — has been concentrated in middle- to upper-income condominium developments,” he said in an e-mailed reply to questions.

Colliers Philippines data showed about 30,000 unsold ready-for-occupancy units in Metro Manila as of last year, equal to roughly eight years of inventory. Most carry price tags of at least P1.8 million.

“Its price is significantly higher than what homeless Filipinos could afford,” Mr. Palanca said. He added that higher fuel prices tied to geopolitical risks add pressure on both builders and buyers.

“Higher fuel costs typically feed into construction materials, logistics, and the price of everyday consumer goods, which reduces household purchasing power and raises development costs at the same time,” he pointed out.

Land scarcity keeps costs high, particularly in the capital. Mr. von Einsiedel said land policy often works against public housing goals.

Declaring government land alienable and disposable allows private ownership, which later forces the state to repurchase plots at higher prices.

“If the government retains ownership of land by not declaring it alienable and disposable, then it will have enough land for public housing,” he said.

A 2025 study by the PIDS found that urban growth in Metro Manila has intensified spatial inequality. Township developments and renewal projects raised land values and displaced low-income residents toward fringe areas.

“While urban revitalization can drive growth and attract investments, it may also lead to gentrification and uneven development, reinforcing existing social and spatial divides,” wrote Ms. Ballesteros, PIDS Supervising Research Specialist Tatum P. Ramos and PIDS Research Specialist Jenica A. Ancheta.

Only eight socialized housing projects and 14 economic housing projects have been approved in Metro Manila over the past decade, according to the study. Low-income workers form a large share of the capital’s labor force, yet housing supply there skews toward higher-income buyers.

Relocation tied to development often pushes informal settler families into nearby provinces. Philippine Statistics Authority data show households in the bottom 30% of income deciles earn P11,940 to P17,369 a month, levels that leave little room for formal housing costs.

AFFLUENT ENCLAVES
Mr. von Einsiedel said redevelopment of former state-owned land illustrates the imbalance. Projects such as Bonifacio Global City in Taguig and Newport City in Pasay evolved into high-end districts.

Development in these areas catered to the rich, leaving low-income families to cluster around cheaper land on the edges, he pointed out.

Chester Antonino C. Arcilla, associate professor at the University of the Philippines-Manila’s Department of Social Sciences, said urban-poor groups should take part in planning housing solutions.

“In the last decade, they have advocated for a ‘people-planning’ approach to ensure that housing location, design, financing and estate management are suitable and sustainable for urban-poor lives,” he said in an e-mailed reply to questions.

The 4PH program has expanded to include house-and-lot packages, rental housing and subsidized financing. It revived the Community Mortgage Program, which lets organized communities buy the land they occupy.

The state has also distributed certificates of entitlement to informal settler families on land reserved for housing under presidential proclamations.

“We hope that the expanded 4PH program’s openness translates to inclusive and sustainable housing for the Filipino urban poor,” Mr. Arcilla said.

Under the revised rules, the Social Housing Finance Corp. raised the loan cap to P400,000 per household to cover land purchase with basic site development. Final loan amounts depend on property value, selling price, and borrower income.

Rafael Vicente V. Dimalanta, technical adviser for human settlements at the Philippine Resource Center for Inclusive Development, said the cap remains thin against land and building costs.

“Not all urban-poor households fall under the same income decile, so it does not address the financial limitations of the poorest of the poor,” he said by telephone.

He said the Social Housing Finance Corp. should play a stronger role in land negotiations. “Nongovernmental organizations typically help in negotiating land acquisitions, but they can only do so much,” he said.

Ursula G. Orapa, a 41-year-old housewife, shares a studio-type home in Meycauayan, Bulacan province north of the capital with her husband, uncle, sister and niece.

Her husband built the structure using plywood and metal roofing on a small rented lot that costs P1,100 a month. Cabinets divide the room into a sleeping area and kitchen.

Four years ago, the family left Marilao after the landowner reclaimed the plot. “Under these written agreements, if the owner needs their lot back, we always have no choice but to leave and find another place to stay,” Ms. Orapa said by telephone in mixed English and Filipino.

She said public housing sites often lie far from jobs. Travel costs and long commutes erase the appeal, even when units appear cheaper.

More Filipinos now live with relatives to share expenses, a shift not reflected in public housing design, Ms. Ballesteros said. PIDS data show 29% of Philippine households no longer fit the nuclear family model.

Families that can support extended arrangements tend to have steadier incomes, she said, leaving others exposed when rents rise or jobs disappear.

Alternative housing types remain scarce. Budget support has also stayed thin. Housing has received about 0.3% of the national budget over the past decade, according to the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development.

Lawmakers cut funding for the 4PH program to P35 million this year from the agency’s P700-million proposal.

“For almost every President, housing is not given a very high priority, hence the low budget,” Mr. von Einsiedel said.

Ms. Ifurung said corruption further weakens trust in public programs. “The money stolen by corrupt officials could have been used to provide housing for the poor,” she said.

She remains settled for now but still imagines permanence. “Hopefully, when we get a bigger budget,” she said.