Developers: Cut red tape on low-cost housing dev’t

CEBU, Philippines — Affordable housing developers are asking the government to put teeth on laws that aim to cut off bureaucratic red tape, in order to solve the problem on providing decent homes for the masses.

The Organization of Socialized and Economic Housing Developers of the Philippines Inc., (OSHDP) is going to formalize this call during the 9th OSHDP National Convention to be held in Cebu this coming August 23-24, 2018.

OSHDP president Marcelino Mendoza announced in a press conference that, a creation of a mandated "Express Lane" for affordable housing developers is crucial, as the country is suffering from imbalance of housing supply.

Mendoza said while developers are interested to build houses for the masses, most of them (if not all) are discouraged to expand in this kind of projects, as permitting and cost of acquiring documentary permits are high and takes years.

OSDHP general counsel Christopher Ryan Tan said that in order for a developer to start a particular project, it has to go through at least 146 signatures, with 73 permits, that would usually last three years after a project will be formally launched.

This is just among the many difficulties developers have to go through in order to build housing projects for the masses.

Considering that socialized and economic housing projects only give minimal returns for developers, the government should at least provide a conducive environment for developers.

Although developers, including condominium builders, are required to allocate a portion of their portfolio to socialized housing, this segment in the residential housing sector is still largely under-served, Tan said.

The bureaucracy in permitting, Tan stressed is still one of the major setbacks of developers now, despite the government's effort to curb bureaucratic red tape.

The upcoming two-day conference to be hosted by Cebu chapter led by Richard Azares, aims to address this pressing concern, along with other challenges, as the organization expects the presence of key government executives from concerned agencies.

OSHDP has over 200 member developers across the Philippines. Last year, these developers produced an additional of a little over 30 thousand affordable houses, way far behind in rescuing the six million housing backlog in the country.

According to Mendoza, if the government will support the industry's appeal in fast tracking the approval and building of affordable housing projects, thereby streamlining the cost of doing business in this particular category, the problem of housing backlog can be easily solved in a shorter span of time.

This year's convention, that will be held at Marco Polo Plaza, will carry the theme "Sustaining Housing Growth Amidst Changing Times," will be graced by The Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council of the Philippines (HUDCC) chairman Eduardo D. del Rosario, lawmakers Cynthia Villar, Sherwin Gatchalian, and Joseph Victor Ejercito. House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez and Congressman Alfredo Benitez also confirmed to grace the event.

Convention resolutions, including the appeal to create an "express lane" for member developers will be formally endorsed to these government top officials, Mendoza said. (FREEMAN)