NEW DIRECTIONS IN PH HOUSING INDUSTRY TACKLED AT SHDA NAT’L DEVELOPERS CONVENTION

What is the future of the housing industry after the pandemic? What innovations and green initiatives can make for smart homes? The questions may be daunting, but optimism was high at the Subdivision and Housing Developers Association’s (SHDA) National Developers Convention held online from Oct. 28 to Nov. 5, 2021.

The seven-day virtual event—which centered around the theme, “Beyond the Pandemic: The Future of Housing—Redesigning the Housing Industry Through Innovation and Green Initiatives”—had more than 7,000 attendees, 31 speakers and panelists, and 200 exhibitor booths, and brought together homebuyers, innovators, financiers, real estate developers, partner government agencies, and other stakeholders in the real estate industry.

Held in partnership with the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development (DHSUD), the event featured HanapBahay: Pag-Ibig Fund Virtual Housing Fair, bringing the offerings of Pag-Ibig Fund’s 41 top developers to over 4,000 homebuyers from the Philippines and around the world.

“We were amazed at the groundswell of demand,” SHDA president May Rodriguez said. “The number and range of participants and the depth of the panel conversations show that there is a real hunger in our sector for innovation, digital transformation, and green initiatives.”

SMART, AFFORDABLE HOMES

The convention opened doors to the idea that affordable homes can be built smarter and more cost effectively, with less environmental impact and more benefits for end users and the industry.

The convention also introduced the concept of the “smart subdivision,” which combines green building technologies with technological innovations.

DHSUD Secretary Eduardo Del Rosario graced the event and spoke of “the enduring partnership between the SHDA and the DHSUD as [they] work together towards fulfilling a common vision of a more sustainable and resilient Philippines.”

In hosting the first ever HanapBahay Virtual Housing Fair, SHDA also cemented its digital partnership with Pag-Ibig Fund. Addressing the group, Home Development Mutual Fund (HDMF) president Acmad Rizaldy Moti vowed that “Pag-Ibig Fund will be [a] strong and reliable partner. Together, let us continue to strive to make affordable, quality, environment-friendly housing more accessible to more Filipino workers and their families especially amid the pandemic.”

LAYING THE GROUNDWORK

The Board of Investments (BOI), through its executive director for industry development services Maria Corazon Dichosa, said its partnership with SHDA would lay “the groundwork to disrupt the housing sector with technological innovations to immediately reduce the decades old problem of the housing backlog, and build green, climate-smart homes faster in a sustainable way.”

Among the action points and convention resolutions that the SHDA will present to DHSUD Secretary Del Rosario are the following:

(1) Fostering a cohesive regulatory environment and the alignment of government policies, especially those of the DHSUD, National Economic and Development Authority, BOI, Department of Trade and Industry, Anti-Red Tape Authority, and HDMF;

(2) Ensuring a continuous and improved access to housing finance in collaboration with the HDMF and financing institutions, to further improve procedures in the context of ease of doing business;

(3) Making adjustments in price ceilings for socialized and economic housing;

(4) Ensuring the retention and amplification of incentives for mass housing, and the inclusion of the housing sector in the 2021 Strategic Investment Priorities Plan;

(5) Furthering the use of green technology and its integration in the entire spectrum of housing development, as well as collaboration with the private sector on technological solutions, while pursuing government incentives for green efforts and initiatives;

(6) Hastening digital transformation in government through e-governance to further enhance efficiency and improve service delivery, and the streamlining and simplification of the permit and licensing process in land conversion, zoning, and construction; and

(7) Pursuing the inclusion of green, resilient, sustainable, and innovative housing initiatives in the government’s medium and long-term development plans.

INNOVATIONS

In 2022, the SHDA said it would delve deeper into green technologies and innovations identified in the convention.

“Our follow-on events next year will include supplier highlights and Pag-Ibig Fund partnership events,” SHDA chair Rosie Tsai said.

SHDA first vice president and National Convention chair Atty. Joy Manaog meanwhile summed up the event as a “showcase of Filipino solutions to Filipino problems, and [a commitment] to bring these to our membership, fellow developers, and, through our partner, PDI (Philippine Daily Inquirer) and its Property Section, a wider and broader audience.”

The author is the executive director of the Subdivision and Housing Developers Association (SHDA)