No shelter in the poverty line

It is fair to use the term “substandard” (Inquirer editorial, 1/9/2014) for the 8.64-square-meter (sqm) bunkhouses being built for survivors of Supertyphoon “Yolanda” because this is smaller compared not only to the 17.5 sqm “international standard” of the Sphere Project, but also to the 18 sqm minimum building design standard set by the Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board (HLURB).

The 17.5 sqm standard of the Sphere Project (an international consortium of humanitarian nongovernment organizations and the Red Cross and Red Crescent movement) is based on a covered floor area of at least 3.5 sqm per person, for a five-person family (see “Humanitarian Charter and Minimum Standards in Disaster Response,” 2004, p. 220, www.sphereproject.org).  The 18 sqm standard is the minimum set for “socialized housing” in HLURB Board Resolution No. 824, Series of 2008.

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The Sphere Project was launched in 1997 to develop a set of universal minimum standards in core areas of humanitarian assistance. Its handbook is “one of the most widely known and internationally recognized sets of common principles and universal minimum standards for the delivery of quality humanitarian response. …  The minimum standards cover four primary life-saving areas of humanitarian aid: water supply, sanitation and hygiene promotion; food security and nutrition; shelter, settlement and nonfood items; and health action.”

The handbook specifically warns that: “It may take days, weeks or even months before agencies are able to achieve the Minimum Standards and indicators specified in a particular sector. (p.7)  … There will inevitably be situations where it may be difficult, if not impossible, to meet all the standards. … [A]gencies may find that the resources at their disposal are insufficient to meet the needs of the affected population; prioritization of needs and responses and advocacy for the removal of the obstacles that hinder adequate assistance and protection may then be necessary (p14).”

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Since a Philippine shelter-standard does exist, it is valid to expect the government to be curious about how many Filipino homes are substandard.  The 18 sqm standard should be taken seriously not only by the HLURB, but by the government in general as well.  Common sense calls for having official statistics on homes of substandard size.

My quickie search for housing statistics this week turned up figures on housing units classified only by the quality of the materials of the outer walls and roof, and not by the size of their living area.  Instead of size of living area, the government is focused on building material quality and on ownership of the lots on which dwellings stand. The number of informal settlers in the National Capital Region alone, in 2007, is put at 544,609 by the National Housing Authority, but only at 199,398 by the National Statistics Office (source: Jeanette E. Cruz, “Estimating informal settlers in the Philippines,” National Convention on Statistics, 2010).

Sadly, shelter is not a separate component in the Philippine poverty line.  This ensures that official poverty statistics cannot be disturbed by any change in shelter-conditions—or, for that matter, disturbed by anything other than a change in the price of food.

I have said that: “[N]o matter by how much the prices change of consumer items like water, electricity, LPG, transportation, clothing, house-rent, school supplies, medicine, or any other basic item aside from food, there can be no corresponding changes in the official poverty line. This is due to the neglect of the National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB), the official poverty-measurement agency, to do research on any individual nonfood component as part of minimum basic needs.” (“The poor don’t live by bread alone,” Inquirer, 3/5/2011).

The NSCB’s poverty research is fixated on food.  Other agencies with research capacity, such as the National Economic and Development Authority and the Philippine Institute for Development Studies, do not help out in studying the full needs of the poor, including shelter.  The National Anti-Poverty Commission is a mere coordinating group and does not have its own research staff.  This merely reflects the general bias in favor of how to promote economic growth rather than of how to fight poverty.

For forthcoming official poverty statistics to realistically account for the effects of Yolanda, the NSCB should generate data on the survivors’ recovery from their injuries and the destruction of their homes and other assets. It should survey the people’s living conditions as soon as possible.

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A long time ago, in the Marcos period, I saw a census report about the homeless, and was very surprised to see the official number as only a few thousand families, in the entire Philippines. (I wrote a piece about this, but can’t locate it.)

It turned out that the official definition of a “home” was any dwelling with walls and a roof. Even dwellings made of cardboard were defined as homes, as long as people could not look inside them. The floor area of the “home” did not matter, needless to say. Even caves, vehicles and pushcarts, if they had a modicum of privacy, were officially considered homes.

To be officially homeless, a person had to be literally sleeping outdoors, on a sidewalk or in a field.  It was just part of the philosophy: If no poverty statistics, then no poverty.

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Contact SWS: or [email protected].