Private housing developers pledged to scale-up their commitment to add at least 500,000 housing units annually to keep up with the increasing backlog of 6.57 million units of future housing needs.
Chamber of Real Estates and Builders Association president Noel Cariño said in an advocacy forum held on June 27, making housing the government’s centerpiece is not only as social imperative, “but an economic one owing to the housing industry’s tremendous output multiplier, income multiplier and labor multiplier effects.”
He said that while Congress has approved the landmark Urban Development and Housing Act, financing remains the single biggest hurdle to address the backlog and increase supply in the market.
Extremely limited homebuyer financing and scarce funds of public housing downplay the efforts of housing developers to deliver socialized housing equivalent of 15 percent of total project area or cost for subdivisions and 5 percent for condominiums.
CREBA has been pushing for the amendment of the Comprehensive and Integrated Shelter Finance Act or the CISFA Law to pool P270 billion housing funds under the Centralized Home Financing Program which has been exposed by several lawmakers in the past two Congresses.
The bill aims to provide access to all income-earning Filipinos to fixed, low-interest, long term housing loans whether or not they are members of the social services institutions.
Under the bill, the annual CHFP funding of P270 billion will be sourced through bond investments by the SSS at P25 billion; GSIS at P25 billion; a minimum of P70 billion or all of Pag-IBIG Fund’s investible funds for housing; P100 billion from the unused or residual agri-agra funds of banks; and a P50 billion government budgetary allocation to serve the informal settlers’ segment — all with mandatory guaranty cover from the Philippine Guaranty Corp.
VAT-free and payable up to 30 years, loans for subdivision or medium-rise condominium units will be up to P1.5 million at 3 percent fixed interest rate for socialized housing, and up to P3.2 million at 4 percent for economic housing.
“It is perhaps time for our country’s leaders to match our sector’s commitment with equal fervor and concrete action. the new administration and implementing agencies should provide this hope,” Cariño said.
Former Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas deputy governor Diwa Gunigundo said the housing development plan is an ambitious target of one million socialized housing units yearly until the conclusion of the President’s term.
He said public rental housing is an option for those who cannot afford home ownership to address the large deficit in housing units, funding requirements, low absorptive capacity of the National Housing Authority and ownership affordability issues.
Without interventions from the government and private sector, housing backlog is expected to rise to 22.6 billion by 2030.