Housing Concerns Highlight CREBA’s 24th National Convention
The national housing backlog threatens to expand from 5.5-million to a booming 6.5-million by 2030 if supply is still not sufficient to cover the increasing demand for housing.
On a quest to solve housing concerns and other matters, the Chamber of Real Estate and Builder’s Association, Inc. (CREBA) is hosting the 24th CREBA national convention in Bacolod City on October 7 to 10. The convention will focus on addressing housing issues while nurturing comradeship among involved parties and encouraging interaction among CREBA members and partners.
According to CREBA National President Noel Cariño, CREBA’s four-decade-long advocacy and vision of a home for every Filipino may require necessary resources such as expertise from different sectors, including the support from the government.
As stated by CREBA National Chairman Charlie Gorayeb, CREBA set a grand target of 500,000 residential units annually for 20 years in order to catch up with the entire housing backlog. Gorayeb admitted that the target figure is double the industry’s capacity to supply, given that it will need considerable resources and capital to make it happen.
It was mentioned by Gorayeb on an earlier statement regarding a package of reforms including the following:
- Long-term asset securitization covering both property and receivables;
- The operation of a secondary market for securitized assets under the administration of a government agency and;
- The “Centralized Homebuyer Financing Program” that gives access to public funds for socialized and economic housing. This will involve the Social Security System, Government Service Insurance System, Pag-IBIG and the unused Agri-Agra funds of banks.
Having at least 10 percent for agrarian reform beneficiaries, the Agri-Agra funds accumulate from the mandatory credit allocation of 25 percent of the banks’ total loanable portfolio for the agriculture and fisheries sectors.
Referring to the backlog which majority is comprised of the poor, Cariño stated that “This scheme of mandatory allocation may also apply to the housing sector, wherein real estate and property firms may be required to allocate a certain percentage of their projects for socialized housing.”
“This requirement (mandatory allocation) can be incentivized with certain tax concessions by the government while making it possible to rechannel a portion of foreign investments in high-end tourism-related property development to mass housing,” Cariño added.
Convention Chairman Florante Ofrecio stated all potential actions in dealing with the housing backlog would be tackled during the convention at the SMX Bacolod, and then go through a careful study in consultation with the fitting industry sectors.
Source:
http://malaya.com.ph/business-news/special-features/solving-housing-woes-highlight-creba-national-convention
