Final Report on the Project "Housing Rental Study"
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The Republic Act No. 9653 also known as the Rent Control Act took effect in July 2009 as one of the Philippine government’s response to encouraging the development of affordable housing for citizens belonging to lower income bracket and for other beneficiaries. With the law expiring soon, a need to conduct a housing rental study emerged. This research aims to a) conduct a study on rental regulation, b) conduct a comparative study on whether or not renting is more advantageous than owning a house and vice versa, c) formulate a proposal or action plan for a transition program to cushion the impact of a regulation free housing market, and d) undertake transfer of technology through the conduct of training on the methodology used in the rental study. Focus group discussions among developers and lessors were conducted. Likewise, training programs focusing on statistical concepts behind rental control study and estimation of housing needs were implemented as part of technology transfer on the methodology used for rental study. A study on "Socio-economic status of female-headed and senior citizen-headed family renters in the Philippines" was also conducted as part of compliance to gender and development requirements. Results revealed that from the point of view of the developers and lessors, there is still a need for the rental control law but specific amendments must be considered. Further, female-headed and senior citizen-headed renting families were found to be in better position and may not be considered as part of the vulnerable groups and thus, may not need subsidy from the government for housing or tenure concerns.
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