VP Carries The Torch For Mass Housing

Philippine Vice Prez and chairman of the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC) Jejomar Binay has signified his concurrence to the terms for the continued inclusion of mass housing projects as a priority sector in the 2011 Investment Priorities Plan (IPP) set to be approved by Malacañang.  HUDCC wants the price ceiling per housing unit to be Php3M and below for a mass housing project developer to be eligible for incentives.  However, the Board of Investments (BoI) is pushing to lower it to Php2.5M.

What's the big deal, you ask?  Eligible developers outside of the National Capital Region (NCR) will be entitled to a 4-year income tax holiday, while those within the NCR will be granted 3 years income tax exemption.  However, the Department of Finance is opposed to the continued tax perks for developers, although it supports a direct subsidy for end-users.

According to Binay, incentives are crucial because housing projects require large capital requirements.  If no incentives are granted, mass housing projects will not be attractive enough to investors.  He hopes that this will also aid in solving the housing backlog in the country which stands at 1.4M housing units, which is projected to hit 5.4M units by 2016.

Mass housing ain't so bad...  For a ceiling of P2.5M - P3M, that's not so bad at all!  Isn't a condominium a form of mass housing too?  It's all in the mind my loves.


Happy Mom's Day!
Jon