DAVAO CITY Rep. Paolo Duterte wants a law granting rental subsidies to eligible informal settlers, helping families rendered homeless by calamities to have safe and decent shelters.
Duterte emphasized the need to approve the measure, especially with strong typhoons and calamities that continue to displace thousands of families.
“People forced to squat on private property because of poverty, those living in danger areas, and those who lost their homes due to strong typhoons and other calamities or because they have been affected by public infrastructure projects should be given the chance to live in humane, decent conditions while waiting to be transferred to their permanent housing sites,” Duterte said.
The rental subsidy program, proposed by Duterte, Benguet Rep. Eric Yap, and ACT-CIS Partylist Rep. Edvic Yap in House Bill (HB) 455, also covers informal settler families (ISFs) who do not have legal claims to the lots or houses they occupy.
Duterte recalled the proposed Rental Housing Subsidy Program Act was among the priority bills of his father, former President Rodrigo Duterte, and was already approved by the House during the previous Congress.
To be eligible for the rental subsidy, ISF should not relocate back to the area where they were originally residing, unless permitted by the proper government authorities, and pay to the lessor the portion of the rental amount, not covered by the subsidy.
“Government housing projects take time to build. We cannot just neglect the plight of our homeless countrymen and allow them to continue to suffer while they wait to be resettled,” he added.
The financial aid will continue until the ISFs have resettled to permanent housing projects constructed by the government.
