Solving the housing problem

EYES WIDE OPEN

- IRIS GONZALES

“Home is the starting place of love, hope and dreams,” the singer Lana Del Rey once said. It’s no different for us Filipinos, which is why part of the great Filipino dream is to have one’s own home. The ultimate dream is home ownership, not a rented bungalow or a few square meters of space, for which one is burdened with monthly rental payments.

Unfortunately, it remains a challenge to afford a house here in the Philippines, not just for those in the lower-income bracket but also for the middle class. Some people in these economic brackets live with their parents or, in some cases, with in-laws from hell, because they can’t afford to buy their own place. Many live in rented homes, but this makes it difficult for the household to set aside savings for the future because a large portion of their salary goes to monthly rent.

Even our Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development (DHSUD) is finding it daunting to meet its original plan of building six million homes by 2028 to address the housing backlog.

Opportunity for the government

I recently sat down with renowned Filipino architect Gilbert Yu, who shared with me the success story of his pioneering build-to-own concept, which he developed in the early 2000s to the joy of happy and satisfied homebuyers, some of them first-time homeowners.

I realized that this is something Arch. Yu can revive in partnership with the government, providing the current administration a golden opportunity to help more Filipinos afford their own homes.