AS POPULATION INCREASES, GOVT TO BUILD 1M HOMES PER YEAR; LOCAL DEVELOPERS SHOW COMMITMENT

October 15, 2022 Community Billboard

BBM’s Housing Program- Pambansang Pabahay Para sa Pilipino

Local housing developers are in high spirit after Housing Secretary Jose Acuzar unveiled the Marcos
administration’s new housing program in the recently concluded 30th National Developers Convention 2022, organized by the Subdivision and Housing Developers Association (SHDA) Inc. in partnership with Department of Housing Settlement and Urban Development (DHSUD). In random interviews, local
developers told Amianan Balita Ngayon their unwavering support to the program even as they ask government regulators to streamline its processing period.

Secretary Acuzar said the government will provide P216 billion in interest subsidies for Filipinos who will be settlers of its 6 million housing project in the next six years, according SHDA release. It is reported that only 200,000 to 300,000 houses are actually produced annually. The housing program of the new administration would not only build one million housing units per year to address not only the 6.7 million
housing backlog but also meet issues and find solutions on issues such as affordability and access to funds.

Secretary Acuzar emphasized that in order to fulfill the project, the government needs the help of key players in the private and public sectors, the SHDA release further stated. “To build 1 million houses, we need P1 trillion because we need P1million per housing unit. But the government cannot afford that P1 trillion. To finance this, we need private money from banks as they are the one who have that kind of money,” Acuzar said. Through the housing program, banks and Government Financial Institutions (GFIs) such as the Home Development Mutual Fund (Pag-ibig Fund) are mandated to provide flexible financing options to low income beneficiaries, informal families, and minimum wage earners alongside a preferential rate of only one percent on their housing loans.

SHDA President May Rodriguez, expressing full support said: “ This will mean huge things for housing
developers, and this will create areas of synergy between the private sector, the national government, local government units, and communities. SHDA is the largest and leading industry association for housing and urban development in the country. It has 350 members nationwide that include the country’s top real estate developers, and dynamic national network of small and medium developers.