Summary
Highlights
Mary-Rose Aparejo and her family live in a tiny, multi-purpose room, and sleep in a small bedroom less than 10 square meters, highlighting the cramped and inadequate living conditions faced by many Filipinos.
The Philippine government acknowledges a need for almost six million homes for impoverished Filipinos, a figure expected to rise to nearly eight million by 2022. This requires thousands of homes to be built daily, a demand that is not being met.
The government attributes the housing shortfall to insufficient funds and competing budgetary priorities with essential sectors like education and health, leading to a consistent failure to meet housing targets.
The housing crisis is worsened by thousands of families displaced by typhoons, earthquakes, and decades of conflict, such as in the Mindanao region. Experts note that the poor are most likely to be homeless, a situation aggravated by a growing population and over 22 million Filipinos living in extreme poverty.
Many unemployed individuals without proof of home ownership are classified as 'illegal settlers' by the government. Teresita Yi, Mary-Rose's mother, has been living in such conditions since 1983 and is still without a permanent home, yearning for affordable housing to own.
Despite the lack of adequate sanitation and living space, Filipinos continue to migrate to urban centers like Manila in search of jobs. Many, like Teresita Yi, describe the experience of not having a permanent home as feeling 'lost and drifting'.