VICE President Leni Robredo, in her role as head of the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC), recently issued a challenge to the country to address the rapidly growing crisis in low- and middle-income housing.

Citing government data, Robredo pointed out that by the end of this year, the shortage of affordable housing will balloon to about 5.7 million units. To catch up with the backlog, the Philippines will need to build about 2,600 new homes every day for the next six years.