Mass housing/Public Housing/Social
Housing
A study on the special effects of housing
Severino Corpuz
Manila’s housing problem dates back to
pre-war days
Immediate solution to this problem was
effected after WWII where people found
themselves homeless and destitute
Reconstruction (after the war) could not
keep pace with the influx of urban migrants
Goal: to provide them with decent, low-
cost housing facilities
Oct. 14, 1938 – the People’s Homesite
Corp. was established with the following
sites as first projects:
*Vista Tenement House, Herbosa
St., Tondo, Manila
*Barrio Obrero, Kamuning, QC
Problem: The tenants sold their house for
profit
National Housing Commission- established
through Commonwealth Act No.648 on
June 16, 1941
Objectives:
*acquisition, development, improvement,
construction, leasing and selling of lands
and dwellings
*promotion of the physical, social, and
economic betterment by eliminating slums
which are unhygienic or unsanitary
People’s Homesite and Housing Corporation
(PHHC) – established in 1946
1947-a factory for the manufacture of
hollow blocks was constructed in QC
1948-Gen. Roxas District-southwestern
tip of the Diliman Estate (Sta. Mesa Estate
and Magdalena Estate)
-PHHC’s first project site
An applicant must be:
A Filipino
Laborer/government employee
whose income does not exceed
Php215/month
Communists and those connected
with insurgents were disqualified
Houses-are ideally located, provided with
ample space between them and large
enough to accommodate comfortably their
occupants, all of which contribute, to a
large measure, to the rare occurrence of
disease
-sturdier, less expensive to
maintain
-residents find time to organize
societies and community clubs
-some families’ monthly income
exceed the amount stipulated in the lease
contract
Tenants-neither allowed to
sublease nor make alterations, additions,
or new constructions without the consent
of the corporation.
Human settelements: The Vision of a New
Society
Task Force on Human Settlements
Development Academy of the Philippines
Human settlement-central to this approach
is the goal of human welfare, or a quality
of life consistent with the dignity of man.
3 key areas:
Environment-covers the management of
life support systems
Habitat-the provision and design of all
kinds of shelter including transportation,
communication and infrastructure
requirements.
Well-being-includes the provisions of
opportunities and facilities for recreation,
leisure, and art & cultural development.
8 Propositions
1. Resources must be allocated on the
basis of both efficiency and equity
2. Judicious resource allocation must
improve the quality of life.
4 types: environmental, human,
fiscal and technological
3. Development must be guided by a land
policy
4. Development and Environment can co-
exist
5. Urban development should be pursued
within the context of regional goals
6. Geographic mobility can be utilized to
ease congestion in central urban cities
7. An administrative structure must be
organized to systematize the physical
planning process and achieve efficiency
8. Policies on human settlements are
consistent with national goals
Friedman, Lawrence.(1968).Government 2. It may reduce the oppressiveness
and Slum Housing: A Century of of large bureaucracies and better
Frustration. Rand McNally & Company, USA control fiscal expenditures.
Smaller suburban projects-most
Housing projects destroyed slum attractive for privatization
communities and created new slums of
rootless, malintegrated people who turned Reeves, Paul. (1996). An Introduction
to delinquency and crime for some sense to Social Housing. UK: Arnold.
of belonging.
Social housing - used to describe any
Angeles, Edna. (September 1985). Public accommodation which is provided for
Policy and the Philippine Housing Market. those who cannot compete in the
Quezon City: Philippine Institute for marketplace to provide their own roof.
Development Studies.
Welfare housing (US) – denotes
Theoretical Arguments for government accommodation provided by welfare
intervention in housing: agencies n the basis of poverty rather
1. Merit Goods. If the good or service than any other defining characteristic
is obviously in the public interest or of housing need.
extremely expensive but whose
costs are impossible to allocate to Social housing (UK) – relatively low-
specific beneficiaries then it is cost housing where the occupant
generally provided by the should easily be able to afford, whether
government. supported by state benefits wholly or
2. Goods Distributed Unequally. When partially or not at all.
goods and services are distributed
in a way contrary to set social
objectives, government
intervention is always looked upon
as a corrective mechanism.
3. Large Projects and Economies of
scale. Land assembly for large-
scale, comprehensive re-
development programs &
experiments involving building
technology and other types of
housing projects considered risky
which normally may not attract
private (sector) investment.
4. Market Imperfections. The
organization and structure of the
housing and mortgage markets
which almost always deny the poor
of access to financing.

Pynoos, Jon. (1986). Breaking the rules:

bureaucracy and reform in public housing.
New York: Plenum Press.

Positive attributes for the privatization of

housing:
1. Divestiture may be a means for
tenants to exercise more control
over their residential settings or to
escape their roles as renters and
enter the world of home
ownership.