Abstract:
There is a looming housing crisis in the Philippines. Development plans predict a rise in housing backlogs to 6.7
million by the end of 2022. Households that do not have acceptable living conditions – without rent and consent
of owners, homeless individuals, dilapidated or condemned housing, and marginal housing – comprise 13
percent of these backlogs (National Economic and Development Authority, 2017). Public or social housing offer
marginal relief to address these issues. As shown by the unoccupied housing projects in Pandi, Bulacan and
Rodriguez, Rizal (ABS-CBN, 2018), public housing programs reflect a deficient housing policy: poor infrastructure
and sanitation, distant from economic opportunities, and the absence of basic services (Monsod, 2011). In
addition, complexity and unaffordable payment schemes introduced in socialized housing make it significantly
difficult to access (Pasion, 2017).
This crisis reveals the need to investigate the definition of “adequate” housing. More specifically, it asks for an
examination of the design process involved in public housing projects and a deeper understanding of what
comprises habitable spaces and dwellings.
This extensive research paper aims to identify whether social housing projects in the Philippines are “adequate”.
Using the Manggahan Residence housing project as a case study, the research will probe dimensions of legal
security of tenure, affordability, habitability, availability of services, accessibility, location, cultural adequacy,
and environmental sustainability. The research found that the housing project is inadequate mainly because of
its unaffordability followed by being inhabitable in terms of adequate space of the housing unit which makes it
a challenge to achieve adequacy for the socialized housing projects in the Philippines.
