Benitez, Housing And Urban Development Committee chairman, said Sunday, September 12, that the housing crisis in the Philippines has been building up for a long time.

“The government estimates that the country’s total housing needs will be at 6.57 million units in 2022,” he said.

Included in the backlog are about 2 million housing units from the previous administration, Benitez added.

“This has been creeping up on us for years partly because the attention that has been given to housing versus population growth has been very, very, very small,” he said.

The housing production under the Duterte administration has actually been the highest historically, he said, but there is still a shortfall on the annual targets.

“The longer we wait, the larger that gap becomes,” he added.

He said one of the hindrances is the permitting process for housing projects that takes from to two to four years.*