Senator JV Ejercito thanked the Subdivision and Housing Developers Association (SHDA) for their contribution in policy development and asked them to continue working with the Joint Committee on Urban Development, Housing and Resettlement of the Upper and Lower Congress for the preparations of the National Housing and Urban Development Summit set on February 2016.

This happened on Friday (September 18) as the senator addressed leading subdivision and housing developers at the 24th SHDA-HUDCC Convention held at Shangri-la Makati hotel.

The senator said, “A masterplan for the housing sector is the end-goal of the National Housing Summit so that we can begin addressing more effectively the 5.5M housing backlog which is expected to rise to 12.5M by 2030 if we fail to act immediately.”

He added, “More importantly, we also need to prioritize our transportation infrastructure masterplan. Both housing and transportation masterplan must go together. If we build the railways, not only will it become a people mover but it will also solve congestion because there will be more growth nodes and this will help spread out the development in and outside of Metro Manila. ”

During the forum, Senator Ejercito and participants discussed key areas for policy development. These included lifting restrictions on accreditation for socialized housing developers, easing licensing and permits for developers, mapping and identification of public land for housing and resettlement, increasing loans for buyers and alternative housing finance and creating more public-private partnerships for socialized housing with national government agencies and local government units (LGUs).

He also said, “Already, the summit is bringing everyone together, both public and private sector, threshing out problem areas, finding solutions and instituting reforms to push the housing industry further to provide socialized and economic housing a reality not only for informal settlers but also for middle and low income earners.”

The senator along with SHDA and the officers of HUDCC, HLURB, Pag-ibig, Home Guaranty Corporation, SFCI, DILG and other key shelter agencies agreed to continue working together to reform the housing industry through collaboration in the ongoing preparations for the National Housing Summit.

Senator JV Ejercito then led the oath-taking of SHDA officers, Board of Governors and Board of Advisers who vowed to help uplift the economy through better synergy and sustained participation in addressing the country’s housing needs. ###