25 November 2021 – Philippines Country Level Event

Ms Myles Rivera, Project Director and Head of the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development (DHSUD) delivered introductory remarks, setting the scene by recognising the need for collaboration and effective alignment between stakeholders to address the country’s housing challenges.

Mr Peter Oborn, UKBEAG situated the session in the context of the UK FCDO Global Future Cities Programme and the UKBEAG capacity Building Component, especially, the six Key Themes and gave a brief overview of the session which was to discuss some of the barriers to the delivery of affordable housing in the Philippines, narrowing the gap between policy and practice.

Mr Roy Brockman, from Mott Macdonald provided an overview of the Cebu City Affordable Housing Strategy and Integrated Urban Development Strategy project, which sets out to address the housing demand in Cebu, where 6% of the population currently live-in informal settlements.

Atty Jade Ponce, Chair of Cebu City Local Housing Board and Ar EngP Anna Marie Yap, Assistant City Planning and Development Officer, responded to some of the issues raised as representatives from Cebu City.

Mr Roy Brockman from Mott Macdonald delivered an overview of the New Clark City Pilot Affordable Housing and Strategy project which aims to showcase how an existing community can be integrated into a new development, taking into account such issues as age, family structures and affordability.

Mr Darryl Garcia, the representative from Bases and Conversion Development Authority (BCDA), responded to some of the issues raised during the presentation.

Dr Donovan Storey, Head of Global Policy & Influence, Reall, delivered a presentation on affordable housing finance, with input from Ms May Domingo-Price, Chief Executive Officer at LinkBuild.

Key Takeaways:

• Neither intervention can divorce their housing strategy from transport strategy. They are intrinsically linked, both underpinning where employment and future prosperity is predicted to take place. This requires a whole-city approach – one where the virtuous circle of transport, density and employment build on each other.
• The cities can lock in low-carbon development for the future if they make environmentally conscious decisions today. Currently, many Philippine cities are sprawling, with the growth of urban land use increasing at 1.5 times the rate of population growth. This unchecked growth of land use increases both greenhouse gas emissions and a city’s carbon footprint. Housing strategies to accommodate population growth must therefore engage with and drive density to facilitate compact cities.
• The interventions are building more than housing. They are providing shelter and building communities. Housing should be viewed within the complexity of both urban and economic development. As shared by Cebu City, the housing strategy and city development strategy will form one document – showcasing integrated planning in practice.