HOUSING stakeholders from the Organization of Socialized and Economic Housing Developers of the Philippines (OSHDP) have called on both legislative and executive government departments to integrate into the Philippine Economic Stimulus Act, the housing development and construction, particularly of socialized and economic housing units.
This was the appeal of OSHDP in a letter to President Duterte, Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development (DHSUD), and members of Congress.
The group cited the economic multiplier effect of housing to other businesses in its many upstream and downstream value chains, as well as its contribution to job generation
OSHDP also said housing can contribute to the much- needed social distancing under the new normal by addressing unhealthy congestion and confinement to limited spaces of extended family members.
OSHDP, together with other major housing stakeholder groups, earlier appealed for the resumption of housing production, including real estate buying and selling. The stakeholders assured the government of its readiness to resume work under strict health and work conditions under the new normal.
OSHDP also reiterated its call for the Inter-Agency Task Force on the Management of Emeriging Infectious Diseases to allow real estate buying and selling even under or post enhanced and general community quarantine environments, as these can be safely done through strict conditions, and through use of electronic means.
OSHDP said buying and selling of housing units, in residential projects required to be registered with DHSUD, are indispensable components of housing production and acquisition.
The group also said the use of technology, as in other businesses under the new normal, has transformed real estate marketing business way before the pandemic. Real estate transactions, including buying and selling, has been safely done virtually or through online media like Facebook Messenger, video conferencing, as proven by such online selling platforms Lamudi, SWOOP, and Dot Property.
Even Pag-IBIG Fund had launched electronic loan availment. In the private sector, there are firms that conduct online mortgage brokering transactions with private financial institutions, OSHDP added.
Side by side with public infrastructure program like ‘Build, Build, Build’, housing is the way to go to pump-prime the economy, while promoting the health conditions, provision of adequate living space for social distancing amid the current crisis, and onwards into the new normal, OSHDP said.
