Property developers push bill on affordable urban homes

MANILA, Philippines - The country’s largest organization of key real estate industry players is urging all its members nationwide to seek the support of their respective legislators for a bill that will provide affordable homes to employees in urban areas, or near their places of work.

The bill proposed by the Chamber of Real Estate and Builders’ Associations (CREBA) will thus lessen the daily suburban commute, traffic congestion, fuel consumption, vehicular pollution and urban sprawl,  while optimizing land use, manpower productivity and  business efficiency, all contributing to economic growth and environmental development.

This bill, which forms part of a five-point agenda that CREBA approved in Iloilo last year to help address the country’s 5.5-million housing backlog, will be presented in its final form at their grand national convention in Bacolod City on Oct. 7-10.

CREBA national convention chairman Florante C. Ofrecio said support for the bill could also come from members abroad and their relatives in the Philippines.  “Many have confirmed their attendance in the CREBA convention to signify their support,” Ofrecio said.

The bill, according to CREBA national chairman Charlie A.V. Gorayeb, was crafted to make the current housing laws work by ridding the Urban Development and Housing Act (Republic Act 7279) of the stumbling blocks to socialized housing production.

“Section 18 of RA 7279, which sets forth the balanced housing program, mandates developers of subdivisions to build socialized housing equivalent to 20 percent of their total project area or cost.  This law, however, does not include owners and developers of condominium projects, thus measures have been filed in both houses of Congress to include them. 

But to CREBA, the required 20 percent quota is not reasonable and realistic to effectively elicit compliance from subdivision and condominium developers. 

Reducing this quota to 15 percent for subdivisions and five percent for condominiums will make it feasible,” Gorayeb pointed out.

CREBA national president Noel Toti M. Carino said any other mode of compliance with this quota must add to the socialized and economic housing stock to help reduce the 5.5-million backlog, which is largely accounted for by the masses.

“Such modes of compliance with the quota include development of new settlements, joint-venture initiatives between a real estate developer and either the local government units, any of the key shelter agencies, or another developer; and development of socialized medium-rise condominium buildings.  Any alternative compliance not yielding any new housing unit should not be allowed or encouraged,” Carino explained.

The other four points of the agenda are long-term and affordable funds for socialized and economic housing; lands for residential, commercial and industrial development; efficient local government housing regulations; and a full-fledged housing and urban development department.