August 6, 2014 9:38 pm [
manilatimes.net ]
by RITCHIE A. HORARIO Reporter
REAL estate developers on Wednesday
urged Congress to address the policy gaps that hinder their production of
socialized housing units.
In a press conference, Attorney
Christopher Ryan Tan, president of the Organization of Socialized Housing
Developers of the Philippines (OSHDP) said “there is a need” to amend some
government policies that prevent them from taking part in addressing mass housing
backlogs.
Tan said they have already submitted a
position paper to the House Committee on Housing and Urban Development.
The organization’s move, he added, is
in response to House Bills 89, 1484 and 2576 which seek to amend the socialized
housing provisions of Republic Act (RA) 7279 also known as the Urban
Development and Housing Act of 1992.
He said that these provisions create
policy gaps which have resulted in low production of socialized housing stock.
Tan mainly attributed the low
production to the lack of real incentives for the private sector to participate
in the government’s mass housing projects.
The government has estimated the
housing backlog at between 3.6 to 3.9 million but the private sector only
produces 100,000 to 150,000 housing units a year, he explained.
“There is a slow capacity of the
private sector, we really need the support of the government,” Tan told
reporters.
He explained that profit margins for
socialized housing projects are low compared to the administrative and operational
costs, which are even higher than those for low-cost and middle-income housing
developments.
In the case of production incentives
stipulated under the existing section 20 of R.A. 7279, Tan said these are
difficult for developers to obtain because of restrictions in their grant and
availment.
On the buyers’ end, Tan said there is
a widening gap between the cost of minimum-standard housing and households’
financial capacity to afford it.
A solution to the problem would
require the provision of direct government subsidies to enable the homeless and
underprivileged to acquire housing.
To address the problem, OSHDP proposed
that Congress should amend R.A. 7279’s definition of “socialized housing” by
including low-rise to medium-rise buildings or “socialized housing
condominiums.”
He said “socialized housing
condominiums” should be covered by their own set of price ceilings, separate
from those presently covering units in low-density, horizontal subdivision
projects, in which the ceiling is currently pegged at P450,000 per unit.
The OSHDP has proposed that government
housing regulators adopt a second tier of price ceilings for socialized housing
condominiums. If located in Metro Manila, Metro Cebu and Metro Davao, the group
suggests the price be pegged at P840,000 per unit, with a price ceiling of
P750,000 for units located in other highly-urbanized cities.
The OSHDP is the leading private
sector organization and advocate for the causes of economic and socialized
housing in the country.
The group, with 75 members, seeks to
promote the interest and welfare of socialized and economic housing developers
through the coordination with all sectors and stakeholders.
__________________________________________________________
