MANILA — Some 100,000 beneficiaries were not provided with housing units from the National Housing Authority (NHA), which failed to meet its target from 2011 to 2019, according to the Commission on Audit (COA).

Released on November 21, COA's Performance Audit Report cited the NHA's target to provide housing for 50 percent of homeless, low-income, and marginalized families across the country based on the 2011 census.

Auditors found that of the target 559,789 housing units, 455,444 units or 81.36 percent were completed, leaving 104,345 units that had yet to be finished.

The NHA will also most likely not fulfill its target of addressing 23 percent of the housing needs from 2020 to 2025 for "homeless, marginalized, and low-income families by building affordable, livable, adequate, and inclusive communities with basic services and socio-economic opportunities," according to COA.

Only 24.75 percent or 105,968 of the target 428,121 housing units have been completed as of 2022, COA added.

Taking into account NHA’s annual housing production, COA concluded that only 128,028 units could be completed from 2023 to 2025, which is far from the 322,153 pending units.

COA points to internal and external issues that led to the delay in implementation and project completion, "such as weak planning and targeting, revision of plans and estimates, release of SARO in the latter part of the budget year, site identification or change of site, site condition issues on completion of documents by developer/delayed issuance of documents by LGUs and other agencies, lot title/ownership issue, inclement weather, CTE, among others."

There were also budget constraints. Housing projects mostly for the Armed Forces of the Philippines, the Philippine National Police, and the Government Employees’ Housing Program that had an approved budget of P40.45 billion were not fully funded.

Due to the decrease in budget, COA recognized that fewer units would be produced, thereby affecting the target of the NHA by 2025.

"We recommended that NHA Management revisit and evaluate its current action plan to assess its effectiveness in addressing the issues and challenges in housing production and formulate a revised action plan, as necessary, to ensure the attainment of target production," the audit report said.

"Likewise, we recommended that NHA Management identify project risks and prepare corresponding action plans for future project packages to proactively address possible production issues in the implementation stage," it added.

It also recommended the close monitoring of projects for timely completion and full coordination with concerned government agencies.

• NHA breaks ground for Navotas project

SALE, DISPOSITION OF UNITS

NHA’s mandate includes selling and disposing of housing units. From 2015 to 2022, the target was 279,428 units, but the NHA only sold or dispose of 164,593 units or 58.9 percent.

“The targets’ non-attainment was attributable to internal and external issues, which defeats the purpose of immediate provision of housing units to prospective needy beneficiaries. This has also resulted in the eventual dilapidation of the housing units not immediately disposed of,” the audit report said.

Some of the issues encountered by NHA include ongoing legal cases, boundary issues, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the loss of interest of beneficiaries.

COA urged NHA to maintain a database and ensure complete, relevant documents are submitted, and include essential services in housing units.

LOW COLLECTION

Auditors also found NHA's Collection Efficiency Rate (CER) to be low. "NHA's target CERs from 2015 to 2022 ranged from 35 percent to 56 percent; however, its actual CERs only went from 20 percent to 50 percent," according to COA.

Due to the pandemic, the collection was lower for 2020 and 2021 as compared to 2019 and 2022.

COA said the NHA was lenient in imposing sanctions for non-payment.

“Failure of the vendees/borrowers to pay their obligations as agreed upon not only constitutes a breach of contract but also deprives the government of using the funds that should have been derived from the payment thereof,” the report read.

“Also, failure on the part of NHA to enforce collection even after sending various demand notices and their leniency in imposing the appropriate sanctions resulted in beneficiaries not being afraid of the consequences of not paying their monthly dues. It also sends a message to all existing and prospective beneficiaries of the NHA Housing Program that it is okay not to pay since they will not be evicted from their housing units, which further results in the non-attainment of target collection.”

To minimize delinquent accounts, COA recommended the automatic cancellation of a contract if three monthly installments are not met, and information dissemination on the provisions of the contract.

UNOCCUPIED YOLANDA HOUSING PROJECTS

Ten years since Super Typhoon Yolanda hit, 51,538 or 31.04 percent of the 166,034 completed housing units under the Yolanda Permanent Housing Program have not yet been occupied as of Dec. 31, 2022.

The COA report disclosed that some completed housing units have still not been turned over to concerned local government units (LGU) due to several reasons such as pending lot titles from the Registry of Deeds, pending approval from the DENR-Land Management Services, and ongoing installation of electrical posts.

Reasons for the low occupancy include lack of basic services such as water supply, and inaccessibility to schools and transportation.

• COA urges NHA to finish housing for Yolanda victims

According to COA, NHA needs to coordinate with LGUs for the immediate transfer and maintenance of housing units, as well as require the contractor to correct defects.

ABS-CBN News is still trying to get the comment of NHA on COA’s Performance Audit Report.

In a letter addressed to NHA General Manager Joeben Tai, COA said it conducted the audit upon the request of the House Committee on Housing and Urban Development since several House and Senate Bills were seeking the renewal of NHA’s charter which would expire in 2025.

• Urban poor groups protest NHA charter extension