The Social Housing Finance Corp. (SHFC) expressed confidence of even better performance this year as the economy recovers.
Florencio Carandang, head of corporate planning and communications group of SHFC, said despite the pandemic, the agency’s collections have stood strong the past two years, indicative of borrowers’ continued commitment to meet their financial obligations.
“We observed borrowers see the importance of housing; they do no want to lose their homes,” said Carandang at the Kapihan sa DHSUD (Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development) last week.
Carandang reported in 2021, collections stood at P1 billion, nearly matching 2019 of P1.12 billion Collections fell to P760 million in 2020.
Collection efficiency rate remains at 90 percent, Carandang said.
The past three years, SHFC assisted 48,000 families or 240,000 individuals with loans amounting to P6.4 billion through its flagship Community Mortgage Program where members of organized communities can take out loans with interest rates of as low as 2 percent.
Carandang said ongoing projects include relocation sites for informal settler families displaced by the construction of the portion of the railway system covering Blumentritt, Manila to Calamba, Laguna.
SHFC’s CMP lends to communities composed of low income earners and underprivileged where members, unlike individual borrowers, have a shared responsibility of planning for their homes, negotiating with developers and setting their loan amounts based on their ability to pay.
“We build sustainable communities,” said Carandang who added one of the key projects previously undertaken by SHFC included the relocation of ISFs living in dangerous waterways starting 2013.
This entailed the construction of high-density multi-storeys (up to five) in various locations in the National Capital Region and nearby provinces.
SHFC was also tapped by the Intramuros Administration for the integration of the community settlers in the tourism plan of the area. At present, SHFC is also helping the Bangon Marawi initiative for housing.
Since its creation in 1989 to 2021, SHFC through its different programs has assisted 377,706 ISFs or about 1.89 million individuals in 2,791 projects through P26.66 billion loans released. – Irma Isip
