NHA to manage building of housing units - Acuzar

THE Social Housing Finance Corp. (SHFC) and the National Housing Authority (NHA) will now manage the construction services contracting for the Pambansang Pabahay para sa Pilipino (4PH) program, said Human Settlements and Urban Development Secretary Jose Rizalino Acuzar on Wednesday.

Acuzar said the move would eliminate the cost of hiring developers and minimize coverage of sovereign guarantee.

«What will happen is, once a housing loan has been approved, it will go through the SHFC and NHA. There will be no developers involved. This system is more cost-effective because we will do away with the developers' profit,» Acuzar said in Filipino during a briefing in Malacañang.

Human Settlements and Urban Development Secretary Jose Rizalino Acuzar. PCO Photo

He added that the scheme will benefit not just the housing beneficiary or borrower but also the government, as the latter will act both as developer and contractor.

«We will go straight to the contractor. That will be just the contractors' profit; that's where we'll be asking for the guarantee,» Acuzar said.

The SHFC and NHA will also be in charge of in-house planning for small projects, particularly the creation of standard designs.

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Private designers will only be commissioned for bigger projects.

«So, it depends on the kind of project when we'll hire designers. The NHA and SHFC, they will do in-house planning. If it's a small project, they will make the design. Of course, that would be the standard design for a uniform construction. Only the façade will change so that it won't have a monotonous look,» Acuzar said.

«Our task is to lower the price to benefit the poor. If we cannot lower the cost, the poor won't be able to afford it. There's a big discrepancy in our real estate [sector], and the poor can barely adapt,» he said.

From its initial target of 6 million housing units built by 2028, the DHSUD said it can now only finish 1.2 million housing units by the end of the Marcos administration.

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The sovereign guarantee, however, could be expanded to P4 trillion should the agency be able to deliver an additional 3.2 million housing units in less than four years.

A sovereign guarantee is the